Sixteen Going On Three Hundred Eighty Five
by redrose7856
Summary: Meet Heather Konstantine. She's your average sixteen year old, struggling with guys, schoolwork, family, and independence. She gets in trouble for breaking curfew. And, oh yeah, she's a vampire and is really three hundred and eighty four years old.
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: I don't own Moonlight, I just own the OCs. And probably the plot. Yeah, but nothing else.**

**A/N: Bolded is voiceover and italics are thoughts. **

**You'd think after three hundred and eighty six years, I'd finally understand algebra. Hah, no chance there. I'm still in the dumb kids' class. Though don't tell my older brother. He refuses to believe that I'm not a super genius. I think he has issues accepting things. **

"Miss Konstantine, would you care to do the next problem on the board?" Mr. Hinkle asked. I sighed and stood up. _Great. Not only do I have to be in this retarded class, I have to demonstrate that I'm as retarded as they are._ I walked to the front, wondering what blood type my math teacher had. Of course, if I went after him, Josef would get mad. Sometimes older brothers just don't understand a girl's issues. Also, you'd think that since I've been on this earth for so long, my brother would realize that a motorcycle isn't that dangerous of a ride. But noooo. He's all, "It's too dangerous, and I don't want you to get hurt."

"Miss Konstantine, if you don't mind?" Mr. Hinkle asked again. I rolled my eyes and grabbed the chalk, scribbling on the board. Then I tossed the chalk down and walked back to my seat. Silence, and then, a laugh. A kid behind me leaned forward and tugged on my reddish brown hair.

"Hey Konstantine, where'd you learn to count?" he jeered. _Where can I find out what your blood type is?_ I thought. Fortunately, the bell rang just then and I leapt up, grabbing my coat and bag.

"Miss Konstantine, can I see you for a second?" called Mr. Hinkle. Everyone "oohed", certain that I was in trouble. I walked over to his desk.

"Yes sir?" I asked in a voice that told him the opposite of what I wanted to do: shoot something. He sighed and massaged his temples.

"Heather, I just don't know what to do. You're just not cut out for this course." He explained. _You think I didn't find that out after the _first_ century of trying?_ "Maybe I should call your brother and suggest a different course." The teacher suggested.

"Good luck with that." I muttered. He gave me a disapproving look. "Mr. Hinkle, I know that I suck at math. I've accepted that. Why can't I just drop the class and take something else?"

"You need three years of math." He reminded me.

"Like I'm going to get it? I'm not." I snapped. "Look, send me back down to Pre-Algebra. See if I care." And then I left. Rude, yes. Disrespectful, yes. The wrong thing to do, most likely. But after almost four centuries of struggling with school, I was sick of it. I grabbed my stuff from my locker and then went out to wait for my ride. I'd taken the bus for a while, but after a month of threatening to either feed on one of the creeps who kept chucking paper balls at me or decapitate myself on the bus windows, Josef realized that it wasn't the best idea and had let me get my own rides. This just got me ridiculed as the Rich Kid. I sighed. Life bites. Trust me, I know. I'm a sixteen year old vampire.

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I got out of the car and walked into the huge house that my brother and I lived in. Josef was upstairs in his office, as usual. The aides and everything were around him, also as usual. I walked in, tossing my backpack onto one of the nice leather couches he keeps in there and plopping down beside it, waiting for the chance to talk to my brother. Fortunately, he saw me and finished up business quickly. I walked over and sat down across from him.

"Mr. Hinkle talked to me again." I informed him.

"Interesting." He said.

"Josef. Brother dear. I am begging you. Get me out of this school!" I pleaded. He stood up and went to pour us a drink.

"We've been over this, Heather."

"I'm going insane!" I argued. He handed me my glass and sat down again.

"You know you have to go to school."

"Even though I've taken algebra for the past 370 years?"

"Yes." He said. "Look, do you want me to look into tutoring?"

"I'll tough it out." I sighed, standing. "Thanks anyway."

"Heather." He said in a tone that meant, _I'm trying, OK?_ I walked over and hugged him.

"I don't think a tutor could be any worse." I replied with a smile. Then, grabbing my stuff, I went upstairs to my room. I flipped on the light and was surprised to see a gift bag on my bed. _What the……?_ My birthday was a week away. Curious as ever, I opened it and was surprised to see the new CD from my favorite band. I pulled it out and a card fell onto my bed. I picked it up and read the familiar script:

_Thought you could use an early present. Call it intuition._

_-Mick_

I smiled and put the disc into my CD player. Yeah, life bites, but sometimes you get used to it.

**OK, this is just a short intro, and if I get reviews, then I'll know that it's good. So please review soon!**


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer: I don't own Moonlight, so please do not sue me. **

**A/N: I got 9 (count 'em, NINE) reviews for just ONE chapter! So extremely encouraging! Kudos to all who reviewed, thanks! Enjoy this chapter.**

I was lying in my darkened room, listening to my new CD, when someone opened the door, shedding light in my sanctuary.

"Beat it, Josef." I ordered, not bothering to look up at the visitor. Nothing happened. "Josef, Get Out. I mean it. Don't make me hurt you."

"You'd hurt me? After I gave you an early birthday present?" asked a familiar voice.

"Mick!" I squealed, shutting off my stereo scrambling up to hug him. **Mick St. John. The Mother Theresa of LA vampires. The guy's fed on live humans maybe a dozen times tops. He's a private investigator and helps humans. He says it's a way to use his powers for good. As opposed to what? Dracula? You know, that guy is actually still alive. He's just lying in some coffin in heaven knows where, paralyzed and getting more and more p----- at the human population. But back to Mick. He's a great guy. He has limits. He doesn't hunt women or children or innocent people. I mean, Josef and I don't either, we just don't see anything wrong with feeding off of humans. We're like the farmers, who drink the mil straight from the cow, where Mick is the guy who insists on drinking out of the carton. It's weird.**

"How've you been, Heather?" Mick asked as we walked to find Josef.

"OK. I hate math. And school. And most of the guys in my school. Most of the people, on second thought. Not just guys. Stephanie Wilson hit me nine times during kickball yesterday. And who got in trouble for booting the ball into her face? Me."

"No guys that you like?" Mick asked.

"None that I don't like because of blood type." I replied. He gave me a look. "What? It's true!" I exclaimed. Josef looked up as we walked in.

"Hey kids." He said. "Mick, good to see you."

"Hey Josef." Mick said warmly. "I just closed a case and thought that you might want to help me celebrate."

"Your reporter friend help out?" Josef asked, pouring us all a drink.

"Who?" I asked.

"Yeah, she did." Mick said defensively.

"Who?"

"I don't see why you have problems with Beth. She's a good reporter."

"Time!" I yelled. "Who's Beth?"

"A reporter." Mick said.

"No duh, Sherlock. Anything else about her?"

"I rescued her when she was little." Mick answered.

"Cool." I grabbed my glass of blood and sat down in a chair. "Continue arguing about her, then."

"She's a human, Mick!" Josef said.

"So? She can be trusted." Mick argued. I started laughing and both of them looked at me.

"What?"

"It's just……….you're still arguing, and I'd been trying to get you to _stop_." I replied. They stared at me and then all three of us started laughing hysterically.

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The next day, I was in chemistry, listening to my teacher talk about Hund's rule. It was weird, I liked chemistry. I just couldn't stand math. I heard the door open and someone walked in. I casually sniffed the air, just a habitual thing. I froze. _Vampire. There is another vampire in my chemistry classroom._ I realized. _If he goes after my teacher, he's dead._ (I very much like my chemistry teacher.) I slowly raised my eyes to view the vampire. Standing there was a teenage guy about my age with the principal. It wasn't her, I knew that much. I'd been in her office long enough to know that much. But the guy…..I'd never seen him before. _He_ must be the vampire! As if to conclude my theory, he caught my eye and looked right at me. I felt my throat go dry. Yup, that was a vampire's stare. I tuned in to what the principal was saying.

"….just moved to town, that's why he's just joining. Do you think you have room for him?"

"I think so." Mr. Black said as he scanned the classroom. "Hm…let's see…." Before he could sit the newbie next to some human kid, my hand shot up.

"There's an empty seat back here, Mr. Black!" I called. He smiled.

"Thank you, Heather. Why don't you sit back there……?"

"David." The vampire said, smiling in the usual, charming vampire way. "David Hatcher, sir."

"I'm Mr. Burns, and that's Heather, back there." I waved and he walked over to sit behind me. The principal left and I breathed a swift sigh of relief. Maybe this wouldn't be so bad.

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"Wait, let me get this straight. You want me to come pick you up from school because there's a new student in your class and he's a vampire?" Josef said.

"Yes!" I hissed, trying to keep my voice low, in case any passersby heard me using the "V" word. "Please!"

"What's his name?"

"David Hatcher, why?"

"Oh, that's something." My brother said.

"Josef." I growled warningly.

"We're having them over for dinner tonight."

"WHAT?!!" I shrieked. Several kids walking by gave me weird looks.

"They're old friends." My brother told me, as if it were the most normal thing in the world to invite the new kid's family over for dinner. "Does David have all classes with you?"

"Yes." I moaned.

"Good. You can keep an eye on him. I'm sure you don't mind. I've been told he's quite handsome."

"I hate you sometimes!" I hissed.

"Love you, too. Bye." Josef said, and then he hung up. I stared at the phone. He hung up on me. My own brother. My flesh and blood. I slammed the phone down and headed for my next class.

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I looked up as David sat down beside me at lunch.

"You." I said. He smiled at me.

"I come in peace and friendship, Lady Konstantine." He said charmingly.

"You'd better." I growled. "I hear anything about anyone in this school going missing, I'll kill you myself." He chuckled.

"Relax; I don't think that anyone in the entire school has enough nutrients in their blood to nourish even a teen vampire." He said. I stared at him, and then started laughing.

"I'm sorry!" I gasped. "It's just….I've _always_ wanted to say that!" He smiled again.

"Glad to oblige." He said, sounding genuinely happy to have made me smile. "Don't bite me for this, but you have a nice smile."

"Ah, the vampirical charm! Nice touch!" I replied. "All vampires are good liars."

"Maybe we are." David said, taking a swig from his canteen. "But I meant that." He said seriously. I smiled.

"Thanks, then." I answered. He smiled back and we looked at each other's canteens.

"What flavor?" I asked teasingly. He laughed.

"O negative."

"B positive." I said, indicating mine. "So, cheers." I added, holding up my canteen.

"Cheers." He said seriously, and we thunked our canteens together and drank deeply. Then we looked at each other and burst out laughing.

"So," David said after a pause. "How'd you get turned?"

"You first." I said. He rolled his eyes. "Be a gentleman, David."

"OK, OK. My parents signed up to join a church, and it turned out that it was really a cult of vampires. They tried to kill my parents, but then realized that we were stronger if we were on their side. So they turned us and sired us. As soon as we had a grasp on how the vampire thing worked, we ran off. Eventually, my dad found a man who was also a vampire and he helped us find a place to live and eventually introduced us to your brother. Your turn."

"I was sixteen, and it was the year 1637." I began in a spooky voice. "Josef was dating the Spawn of Satan. I walked into his apartment to find her busily draining my brother. I tried to stop it, and lo and behold, evil comes in twos. Her brother dropped down from behind me, grabbed me, and tried to kill me, but Spawn told him that it would be a lot easier if Josef didn't wake up to find his baby sister dead on the carpet. So her brother turned me. They sired us and taught us how things worked, and then we left."

"Are they still alive?" David asked.

"About that. See, Josef and I kind of left them a present when we took off. Don't worry; it was a blast for them!" I added. David stared at me and then started laughing.

"What?" I asked.

"You…..you blew up your sires'?" he howled. "That's insane!" I smiled too. And then we both started laughing.

**It's a weird feeling. I'd never met any other teenage vampires who were so similar to me. It was like David was some kind of vampirical angel sent to befriend me in my time of loneliness. I mean, we're the only kids in the whole school who can't watch any vampire movie without laughing at how inaccurate they were, or who can walk all over LA without fearing rapists or muggers. I mean, what were they going to do? Kill us? Unless they've got a sharp sword or a flamethrower, that won't do anything to us. We can laugh over a thousand jokes that anyone else would either not get or puke over. We're true BFFs.**

After lunch, David followed me into my math room.

"Good luck." I told him. "This is the only class I wouldn't mind feeding on. Not that it'd do any good." He smiled and sat next to me. Mr. Hinkle walked to the front and asked if we had any questions over the homework. No one did. Then he began to talk about percentages and stuff like that.

"Would someone care to do an example on the board?" he asked. Biting my lip, I slowly raised a hand. He looked surprised and nodded me to come up. I walked up and began to work it out, mentally doing the problem in my head: _If Lars and Lexy were one of nine hundred and eleven vampires in the city of Hanson, and they were killed, what did that reduce the population to?_ When I was done, I was surprised to see that my work was both legible and almost right. Shrugging, I handed the chalk back to Mr. Hinkle and went back to my seat. Mr. Hinkle looked at the problem. "Not exactly, Heather." He said and then smiled at me. "Thanks for trying." I smiled back, feeling 100 feet tall. Behind me, the kid yanked on my hair.

"Still havin' problems, Konstantine? Maybe you need to go back to eighth grade!" he sneered. I was trying to mentally list all of the different blood types to calm myself down when I heard a snarl. I looked over to see David glaring at the kid. I shuddered. There are many ways to glare at someone in this world. There are the glowers, the narrowed eyes, the seething…….and the vampirical glare. It's one of the most terrifying glares known to mankind. It's the glare that you'd be surprised if the giver _wasn't_ a vampire. That was the glare that David was giving the kid.

"Leave her alone." My friend growled. "Or else." The kid shrank back and then began to work busily. David winked at me and I smiled back. It was cool, to have someone want to protect me. Even though I don't need it. Comforting, and nice. Ohmigosh. _Am I falling for David Hatcher?!_

**Here's chapter two! I hope you like the new OC I put in. Enjoy!**


	3. Chapter 3

**Disclaimer: I don't own Moonlight. If I did, there would be a lot more Josef and a lot more episodes. But I don't. Sadness.**

**A/N: OK, several people have asked me to write a chapter where Beth meets Heather, so this is it. Also, would anyone seriously stop reading this fic if I didn't have there be any problems with David and Heather's relationship? Because I would like to write a fanfiction where two characters meet, fall in love, and have no problems. I know, that may be unrealistic in the fictional world, but that's just me. Please let me know.**

A few weeks later, I was just hopping in the shower when I heard the doorbell ring. Curious as to who would be visiting Josef, I turned on the icy cold water so that I'd be quick. It worked. I leapt out into the now chilly bathroom, putting on my pajamas, robe, and fuzzy slippers before exiting the bathroom complete in a towel turban. I went to the fridge and opened it. To my annoyance, my drink was gone. Grumbling in annoyance, I went to find Josef. He was in the den with someone, but it didn't look like they were talking business. I walked in.

"Where's my drink?" I demanded, sounding more like a two year old than I cared to. The two people sitting a cross from my brother jumped slightly and stared at me. One was Mick, but the other one I'd never seen before. She was blonde and was staring at me like I had corn stalks growing out my ears. Josef looked calmly at me.

"Was that yours?" he asked. I gave him the Look. It's a glare that I've perfected throughout the years, one that said _you crossed the line, and for that, you shall pay._ It usually makes the person I'm glaring at immediately stammer out some kind of apology. Unfortunately, there are a few it doesn't affect: Josef, Mick, and my school's entire student body, with the exception of that weird kid who has sits in the front row of Mr. Kennedy's biology class and stares at anyone who talks with huge eyes. Ugh, creepy.

"You took my drink!" I cried, resisting the urge to stamp my foot. "The one that was on the top shelf, behind the A positive jar and underneath and ice packs!" Whoever said that long life brought maturity never spent three plus centuries with my brother.

"It was in the fridge." Josef replied innocently. Well, as innocently as a vampire _can_ sound. I stepped towards him.

"That….was….._MY_ drink!" I snarled. He arched an eyebrow.

"Says who?" he asked. I was just about to throw myself at him when the woman interrupted.

"Josef, who _is_this?" she asked, wide eyed. Josef looked from me to her and then smiled charmingly. Jerk.

"Ah, you two haven't met, I see." He said casually. "Beth Turner, this is Heather. Heather, this is Beth."

"Oh-ho, so _this_ is the Beth Turner I've heard so much about!" I exclaimed, grinning at Mick, who gave me his version of the Look. _Don't give up, Mick. You're getting there._ She stared at me, and then looked at Josef, and then back at me.

"I'm sorry, who are you?" she asked, sounded extremely confused. I sat down beside Josef, taking back _my_ drink and drinking some.

"I'm Heather." I replied. She got this annoyed look on her face. Yeah, sometimes I can be just as annoying as my brother. I rolled my eyes. "Heather _Konstantine_." At this, her eyes bugged out.

"Heather-! Wait, so you're his-!"

"Sister." Josef said quickly, before she jumped to the wrong conclusion, in which case I would cram my cup down her throat. Being accused of having married someone like Josef is just insulting. Trust me, it's been done before. Beth nodded, though it was obvious she was still surprised. We shook hands and exchanged the usual "It's nice to meet you" jargon. Then Josef cleared his throat.

"OK, Heather. Bed time."

"Say what?" I asked, laughing. "Bedtime?"

"Yes. You have school tomorrow. Go to bed."

"Since when do you care when I sleep?" I inquired.

"Heather, go to bed!" Josef said sharply.

"Bite me." I snapped, enjoying the playful banter.

"Heath-Bar, please. Give us some space to talk, OK?" Josef asked. I opened my mouth to shoot back a reply when my mind clicked on what he'd called me: _Heath Bar_.

**For most kids, nicknames are lame and moronic and they hate them. No nickname really lasts very long. Except for one. When I was seven, a kid had stolen my candy bar. I'd watched him run off, stunned by the audacity of a kid, a little, runny-nosed kid, who had stooped so low on the morality totem pole, to steal **_**my**_** candy bar. Josef, then a college aged twenty one year old, had walked up and asked what was going on. Being the girly, crybaby kid that I was, I glared after the thief and growled, "That kid is mine!" After finding out why I wanted to slaughter one of my classmates, Josef told me that the kid hadn't stolen the sweetest candy bar. I asked what he meant and he said that I was sweeter than any candy bar. I asked him what my name was, and he said "Heath Bar". For the past 370 years, he's called me that when something was up and he needed to get my attention.**

"'Heath Bar'?" I repeated. "Josef, you……you only call me that if it's something serious. What's wrong?" I asked, feeling like I was about to cry. Hey, I may be one of the toughest girls in LA, but even I get upset if something's bothering my big brother. Anything that bothers him scares the crap out of me.

"It's OK, Heather." Josef replied. "Just, please, go to bed." I nodded and then said goodnight to Beth and hugged Mick. Then I turned to Josef, still a bit upset. He smiled and stood up, enveloping me in a Superstrong Vampire Big Brother Hug.

"I love you, Josef." I said into his red, cashmere shirt. He kissed the top of my head.

"I love you too, Heath Bar." He replied. I nodded, knowing that that was his way of saying; _I forgive you for being an idiot two minutes ago._ I padded to my room and turned my stereo on and putting my new CD in. Once it was loaded, I cranked up the volume. Hey, a vampire's gotta be able to hear through the walls of a freezer! From the den, I heard Josef yell my name, but I ignored him, just like I always did, and climbed into my freezer. Unlike most other vampires, I can sleep in a freezer wearing clothes. I could wear a prom dress and still sleep like a baby. Though I don't recommend it; it's not exactly comfortable. I sighed and succumbed to the nice cold of sleep.

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_I was pinned against someone's floor, my nose buried in their carpet. I was struggling, but nothing was happening._

"_Hold her still, you idiot!" a woman's voice barked. A familiar voice. One that made me want to explode._

"_She's stronger than she looks, Lexy!" my captor protested._

"_Heather, if you don't stop struggling, your brother is as good as dead." The woman threatened. I froze, swallowing back the tears that were threatening to pour out. This wasn't fair. I wanted to go home. I wanted my brother. Pain! Two sharp stings on the side of my neck. I screamed into the carpet, louder than anyone I'd ever known. "Quiet, Heather!" the woman commanded. I whimpered and started sobbing into the carpet. I felt weak……much weaker than I'd ever felt. My eyelids slipped closed, and I fell into blackness. _

_After what seemed like an eternity, I stirred. The first thing I realized was that I could breathe without the smell of a carpet in my nostrils. The second thing was that I was alive. And the third thing was that I was lying across someone's lap. _Awkward! _Gasping, I struggled to get up. My head managed to raise a few inches before I let it drop back down with a moan._

"_I told you she was alive." I heard the woman's voice say coldly. _

"_Shut up, you b----!" snarled a furious voice. Then someone brushed back my hair. Gently, the way Mother did. "Heather? Heather, are you OK?" the voice asked. Blearily, I opened my eyes and found myself looking into the familiar dark eyes of my brother._

"_Josef?" I whispered. His eyes filled up with tears and he pulled me close. _

"_Thank God." He said, over and over. "Thank God you're OK." I buried my face in his shoulder, inhaling his familiar smell of cologne. _

"_I want to go home." I whispered. "Can we go home?" In reply, he helped me to my feet and we stood. I looked around and saw that we were in his apartment with his girlfriend. Alexandra Cavinall. That was her name. And there was her brother, Lars, staring at me with something between paternal pride and hungry lust. _

"_I'm afraid you two can't leave this room." Alexandra said softly. "Not until we've taught you some things."_

"_What things?" Josef growled._

"_About us." She said with a happy smile. I stared at her. Had she had too much whiskey at the local pub? Josef put his arm around me._

"_Lexy, listen to me." He said in a reasoning tone. "Heather's not feeling well. Why don't you let me take her home and leave her with my parents, and then you and I can talk?" he suggested, slowly stepping towards the door. _

"_NO!" Lars yelled, leaping in front of us. I snarled, baring my teeth at him. Then I felt something………odd. A growing sensation in my mouth. I tentatively reached up and felt my teeth. What the…? I stared at my finger, the drop of blood and the tiny bite mark. I had……I pulled free of Josef and ran around, looking desperately for the bathroom. There it was! I ran in and then stopped dead, staring in horror at my reflection. I was a monster! Not that I'd ever cared much about how I looked but this……this was unreal! Josef ran in after me and then froze, his eyes glued to his own reflection. I looked fairly normal, aside from the messed up hair, the blood on my neck and shirt, the silver eyes, and oh yeah, the _fangs_. I looked at Josef._

"_What are we?" I asked, horrified. He stared at me, at a loss for words. I started crying again and he wordlessly pulled me into a hug. _

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Bam….Bam…..Bam…..I moaned. Why was Lars banging on the bathroom door? It wasn't locked or anything. Someone was calling my name.

"Heather! Heather!"

"Josef?" I mumbled. "Why're you yellin' at me. 'M right here."

"HEATH BAR!" roared my brother. My eyes snapped open and I was staring through icy glass at my brother. Realization hit me. It wasn't 1637, it was 2007, and I was living in Los Angeles, California with Josef. I shoved open the freezer door and sat up, the chilly air diffusing about the room. Josef knelt beside the freezer, staring at me. "What happened?" he demanded. I just stared at him, my eyes wide. He saw that I was freaked out, so he just hugged me. "You slept through your alarm." He added, as if I cared to know why he had barged into my room and woken me up himself.

"Had a nightmare." I said hoarsely. He handed me a glass of blood and I gulped it all down, noting as I did that it was in my favorite cup. "Time?"

"Eleven." He replied.

"Holy cow!" I cried, scrambling out of the freezer. "I'm late!"

"Stop." He said softly and I turned back towards him. "You don't have to go today," he said. I nodded and then just plopped down on the floor. We were silent for a minute, and then he chuckled. "I must have ticked you off last night or something. You scared the h--- out of me."

"Sorry." I said weakly.

"Nightmare, huh? _That_ nightmare?" he asked. I nodded, not really wanting to talk about it. Fortunately, Josef understood. In 370 years, "that nightmare" is the only nightmare we've ever had. "Do you need me to stay home with you?" he asked. I shrugged. He nodded and then went out of the room and called someone. Then he came back in, picked me up, like I was a little kid, and carried me into the living room, settling me on the couch with a fresh cup of blood. He turned on the TV and sat down beside me. I looked at the screen. _Smallville_. One of my favorite shows. I looked at Josef in surprise. He was going to watch it with me? He'd once complained that if he could, he'd go attack Tom Welling just so that "the stupid soap opera would end already!" I smiled and snuggled up with my brother. **There are kids who, after a lifetime of older siblings, still get into fights. After three hundred and eighty six years, Josef and I have come to the realization that sometimes family is all you have.**

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**OK, that's that chapter! Please R&R, that would be fantastic. Just fyi, I'll probably start doing more flashbacks to show how Heather survived vampirism for 370 years. Also, what if, instead of having there be a huge problem with Heather and David's relationship, I did something else, like have slayers move to town or something?**


	4. Chapter 4

**Disclaimer: I don't own Moonlight. If I did, then…..I would have a lot more money. But I don't. So this is a fanfiction and not the real thing. Enjoy.**

**A/N: OK, I have gotten no reviews saying that there is anything wrong with not having any problems with Heather and David's relationship, so there won't be. Btw, this chapter is before Josh dies.**

"Where are we going?" I asked. Mick looked at me.

"Beth's apartment." He answered.

"OK, OK. Jeez, sorry." After three hours of watching _Smallville_ with Josef, I'd convinced him that I needed to get out of the house for something other than school. So he'd called Mick, and now we were off to go work on a case. With Beth. "Hey Mick, can I ask you something?" I asked.

"Yeah, sure." He said as we drove through an intersection.

"Do you like Beth?"

Mick was so startled I thought that we were going to crash. He looked at me and then had to slam on the brakes as we hit a red light. A car flew in front of us, and the driver made a not so friendly gesture with his hand. Creep. I looked at Mick. "Is that a yes?" He looked like he was about to answer, so I pressed on. "I mean, it's not like I have any problems with that. I'm not like Josef. I think that an interspecies relationship is fine. Look how it worked for Nancy Drew and Ned."

"They were both human."

"Were they? Why then, in every computer game or TV show or movie, do you _never_ see Nancy's reflection or photo? Simple: She's a vampire."

"There's no proof of that. You see Nancy eat food. What about that?" Mick argued.

"First of all, I think that it's pathetic that you've watched enough Nancy Drew to know that you see her eat food. And secondly, vampires eat food. Josef eats food. _I_ eat food. When you're cooped up in a room with dozens of other teenagers, you sort of have to." I said as we got out of the car. "So, do you like Beth?"

"I'm not answering that."

"I think the whole almost car crash already did." I said as we got into the elevator. Since this was one of the lame elevators that didn't have any cool music, I started humming, but stopped when Mick cleared his throat. We got out and went to one of the apartments. Mick knocked and it was opened by a guy who looked like he belonged in _Law and Order._ Nice suit, briefcase, the works.

"Hey Mick." He said cheerfully. Mick smiled.

"Hi Josh." He replied. "This is Heather." Josh smiled at me and said hi. "Is Beth here?" As if on cue, Beth herself appeared. She saw us and smiled.

"Let's go." She said, heading for the door, stopping to see Josh. "Bye, I'll see you later."

"What time, do you think?" he asked.

"Probably around six." She replied. They kissed and she joined us. Mick had offered to go get the car and had left as soon as Beth and Josh started talking, so it was just the two of us. Perfect.

"He your husband?" I asked.

"No, we're just dating." She answered.

"Seems clingy." I commented.

"Well, a few days ago he got assigned a tough case, so he's worried about me."

"Why? It's not like you can't take care of yourself."

"I know. He just cares."

"That's weird. If I were you, I wouldn't pick a guy who'd freak out every time I went out. I'd pick a guy who lets me be independent but is still willing to kill for me." I said.

"Interesting."

"Kinda like Mick. I mean, the guy wouldn't argue if you said you wanted to take a self defense course to proclaim your independence, but he'll still get ticked off if you're threatened." I continued. "I want a guy like him."

"Is that going to be so easy? I mean, you are three hundred and eighty six." Beth said.

"Three hundred and eighty five." I corrected her. "And besides, I think I already _have _a guy."

"Really?" she asked slyly. I opened my mouth to tell her about David and then stopped. Darn it. I'd forgotten that she was a reporter. She knew what I'd been trying to do and had turned the tables on me.

"Yes." I said, and then told her about David. _Beth one, me zero. Next round, I'll win!_

-------------------------------------

That night, I had another nightmare. This one was after our turning:

_Lars and Lexy walked into the small bathroom. I was no longer crying like a baby into my brother's chest. He was leaning against the wall, and I sat on the toilet._

"_What've you done?" he asked them, sounding like a wearied soldier. "What are we?"_

"_You're like us." Lexy purred. "You're a vampire, sweetie."_

"_Don't call me that!"_

"_Which one?" Lars asked. _

"_What's going to happen to us?" I asked in a dull voice. Lexy hugged me, and I was too upset to fight her._

"_Shhh, it's going to be okay, honey. Lars and I are going to take care of you." She whispered into my hair._

"_What about our parents?" Josef asked._

"_They'll believe that you were killed in an accident." Lars explained._

"_No!" I whimpered, struggling to get up._

"_It's the only way. They can't be near you anymore. It's not safe." Lexy said gently. We sat there and then I realized something._

"_I'm hungry." I announced. Lexy and Lars exchanged glances and then Lars left without a word. Lexy went over to Josef._

"_Are you hungry, too?" she asked. He nodded and then she left, too. A few hours later, they returned with two people. Both were tied up and gagged, and looked like they were about to die from fright._

"_Here." Lars said, kneeling beside me. I stared at him and then at the person._

"_I don't get it." I told him. _

"_You need to bite into his neck, Heather. Right there." He said, pointing to a spot._

"_Why?" I whispered._

"_Because that's where the main artery is, and you can get his blood from there." He said, sounding more and more father like._

"_I don't want to." I cried._

"_It's the only way to fill you up right. C'mon now, it's OK." Lars said gently. I looked at the person himself._

"_Wh-what about him?" _

"_Once you sever the artery, he won't feel anything. He'll just die painlessly."_

"_I don't want to kill anyone!" I shrieked._

"_Let her use his wrist." Lexy commanded. I looked over and saw Josef, his mouth glued to his person's neck. Lars nodded and then grabbed the man's wrist._

"_Here." He said again._

"_Is he gonna die?" I asked._

"_No, sweetheart." Lexy said, gliding over. "He'll be fine." I nodded and looked the man in the eye._

"_I'm sorry." I whispered, before sinking my fangs into his wrist. I heard his muffled grunt of pain, but then everything else faded away. All I could really think about was how much better this was. No one died, and I got fed. Life is good, I thought, closing my eyes and drinking hungrily. _

_After Josef and I were both "done", Lars pressed a towel to my guy's wrist and pulled the gag off of his mouth. _

"_Breath through your mouth." He ordered. "It's easier." The man gasped and swallowed before looking at me._

"_Monster!" he spa, lunging at met. Before I knew what was happening, Lars grabbed the man and snapped his neck. I screamed._

"_Why did you do that?" Josef demanded. He may not have been squeamish enough to spare his guy, but he knew how I felt about death. Lars looked at him._

"_He was going to hurt Heather." He explained._

"_And you care, because…?" Josef asked coldly._

"_Sweetie, things are different between us now. Lars and I are the only ones who can help you. It's like we're your parents. We have to protect you." Lexy explained._

"_You're not our parents!" I yelled, feeling a sudden rage at these people._

"_We know that." Lars snapped. "But until you two can fend for yourselves, we're all you've got." I stared at him and then locked myself in the bathroom. I hated him! I hated her! I hated them! They'd tried to kill us, they'd turned us into monsters, made us kill people, and worst of all………they were right._

I didn't tell Josef about this one. He didn't need reminders of the past.

-----------------------------------------------------------------

"Where were you?" David asked as we walked towards first period chemistry.

"Home. I was kind of sick." I said. "Nightmares about my turning."

"You OK?" he asked worriedly. I nodded and squeezed his arm.

"I'll be fine. Thanks." We walked in and sat down. My teacher, Mr. Black, walked up and called role and then cleared his throat.

"I have an announcement to make." He said. "We have another new student." David and I exchanged glances and then looked at our teacher. He went to the door and opened it. A kid walked in. He looked like some kind of teen movie star. His blond hair was all cut and styled; he wore a black turtleneck, jeans, black boots, and a leather coat. I saw some of the girls sit up, straightening their hair. The boy smiled at us. His teeth were perfectly white and they sparkled at us. _Someone's been taking those Crest Whitening Strip commercials to heart._ I thought.

"Thank you for having me." The kid said. His voice was clear and rich. "I'm extremely pleased to be here. My family and I moved here from Chicago and are now busy at work."

"What do you do?" a girl called.

"I fight zombies." He joked, causing everyone but David and me to laugh. "No, my family is in the extermination business." He said seriously. "And don't worry; we'll soon have Los Angeles clear of any pests, no matter how hard they try to hide." A chill ran up my spine. _Relax. He's talking about rats and cockroaches._ I told myself. "Anyway, my name is Erik Occisor." I froze; my heart pounding. **Of all the words in the world, there are a few that all vampires, young or old, male or female, just know. Maybe it's instinct, maybe it comes with being turned, no one knows. The new kid's last name was one of those words. Occisor. Latin for "slayer". There was a slayer in our school. And he was after us.**

**To Be Continued……………………**

**Ha-ha, the plot thickens! Hope you enjoy this! Please review!**


	5. Chapter 5

**Disclaimer: I don't own Moonlight or CBS.**

**A/N: OK, I've gotten several people asking me about historical accuracies of my fanfiction, so here are some changes/answers:**

**Their parents believe that they were killed in an accident.**

**Heather's pastry was stolen instead of her candy bar.**

**And I did some research to find out that there WAS some indoor plumbing in those days, so they could've been in a bathroom.**

**Hopefully that satisfies everyone. I'd change it in the story, but I can't figure out how to do it without having to repost every chapter and frankly, that would suck. So this is what you get.**

"This is terrible! I feel like a bug under a magnifying glass. Sooner or later, it's going to happen, but for now, I can't do anything." I admitted to David at lunch. We were sitting at the table closest to the door, ready to run at a moment's notice. Erik was sitting in the center of the lunchroom, surrounded by girls who were all fawning over him like he was a god. I growled and yanked the lid off my canteen with my teeth.

"Easy." David warned. "That stuff isn't fang-proof, Heather."

"What are we supposed to do?" I cried. "We can't just sit here and wait for him to come after us!"

"What about your brother?" he asked.

"Yeah, he deserves to know about this. Let's go tell him after school."

"Uh, both of us?" David asked.

"Sure, why not?" I asked.

"I'm not sure if Josef likes me." He admitted. I shrugged.

"He's like that with everyone. Paranoia never dies." I said airily.

"Was he like that when he was a kid?" a voice asked in my ear. It took every molecule of restrain and common sense in my entire five foot four inches body to stop from superspeeding out of the state. Instead, I settled with jumping about a foot in the air and shrieking. Then I turned and found myself staring into the clear green eyes of Erik Occisor. He grinned lopsidedly at me. "Scare you?" he asked.

"You think?" I shot back before realizing that I was being sarcastic to my mortal enemy. Fortunately for me, Erik chuckled.

"Sorry." He replied. "So, was he?" I blinked.

"What?" I asked.

"Your brother. Was he paranoid when he was a kid?"

"Oh! Oh, uh, yeah. Ever since he was a baby." _In vampire years._ I stammered.

"That's gotta be annoying." He said, sitting beside me, casually pushing David away from me.

"You get used to it." I said with a forced smile. He smiled back and then looked at my canteen.

"You're not eating?" he asked.

"I'm fasting." I said quickly. Over Erik's shoulder, I saw David raise an eyebrow and mouth _Fasting?_ But I ignored him. Erik looked impressed.

"I respect that." He said. "What church do you go to?" _The Church of the Unholy Bloodsucking Vampires_?

"Uh, New Protestants." I said, naming a church near Mick's apartment. Erik nodded.

"My parents and I are thinking about visiting there. Maybe we'll see each other." He said with a charming smile.

"Maybe." I said weakly. Suddenly, a tray slammed itself on our table, causing everyone to jump. A girl sat down, one I'd never seen before. Erik looked annoyed.

"Do you mind?" he asked. The girl looked up from her tray and gave him a Look that I recognized instantly: She was a vampire. _What happened to all the normal kids at my school?!!??!_

"What?" the girl said, shoving her fork into what looked like mashed potatoes and eating some. David looked at her.

"Hey Bea." He said. She waved and resumed eating. I craned my neck to peer around Erik and mouthed _Bea?_ He mouthed back _Sister. Was with my aunt. Just got here._ Erik turned back to me.

"So, do you understand Mr. Black's chemistry lectures? I mean, talk about incoherent!" he said with a chuckle. My eyes flashed.

"_I_ understood him perfectly." I growled. He looked taken aback and then he shrugged.

"I didn't. Do you have any pointers? Any ways to help me out?" he asked hopefully. I opened my mouth to reply and then the realization of what he was doing hit me. He wasn't trying to test me and find out of I was a vampire. He was _flirting_ with me! Oh my Goodness, talk about wrong! Fortunately for me, "Bea" nudged her soda just then and it spilled………right on Erik's arm. He yelped and leapt to his feet, flapping his arm like he was trying to fly.

"Sorry." Bea said, not really sounding very sorry at all. "My bad." Erik glared furiously at her and then looked at me.

"I'll see you later, Heather." He said before heading off, presumably to the boy's restroom. I nodded and then turned back to my tablemates.

"Was he……….flirting with me?" I asked shakily, sliding over to David.

"Yeah." He replied. "You OK?"

"No." I said, shuddering. "I could've given myself away."

"But you didn't." he said, slipping an arm around my shoulders. I laid my head on his shoulder.

"Thanks for the help, Bea." I said gratefully.

"What d'you mean?" she asked, blinking. I opened my mouth to tell her that she'd just run off a slayer, but she just winked at me. I smiled back and then stood up to go to my locker before lunch was over. Saved by the Bea.

--------------------------------------------------------------

After school, David and I hurried to the meeting point where my car would pick us up. I'd called Josef to tell him there was an emergency and he, Mick and Beth should be waiting for us when we got home. Unfortunately, the car wasn't there. David and I exchanged glances and looked around to make sure that Erik wasn't anywhere nearby. He wasn't. I heard a honking noise and looked up. A large truck was backing towards the cafeteria side of the school. It stopped and men started unloading boxes filled with milk and stuff like that. I watched them, bored. Suddenly, my vampire vision caught something: A man was kneeling down to tie his shoe and didn't see that the stack of boxes beside him was about to collapse on him! Dropping my backpack, I ran towards the truck. I wasn't going to make it! Not unless………._Sorry Josef._ I poured on every ounce of superspeed I had and leapt up into the truck, shoving the man aside and then looking up as the entire tower of boxes dropped down………on me.

------------------------------------------------------------------

Josef looked angrily at his cellphone before hurling it onto the couch.

"No answer to either her cellphone or the chauffeur's. I'd call her boyfriend if I knew his number."

"She has a boyfriend?" Mick asked, sounding interested.

"Yeah. She's been acting all secretive about him. David Hatcher."

"Did I meet his parents?" Mick asked. Josef nodded. "I remember them. Nice people. Two kids, right? David and….."

"Beatrice." Josef supplied. "Where _is_ she?" he muttered, starting to pace. "I'm going to try her cell again." He said, heading for his office, ignoring the fact that his cellphone was right there. _D--- it. No answer. If anything's happened to Heather, I'll kill every kid in that school!_ Sometimes the kid could be a pain, but she was his sister. She'd been there through everything with him! She knew about Sarah, Lola, all of Josef's girlfriends. Josef sighed and dialed again, staring out the window. _Where are you, Heath Bar?_

-----------------------------------------------------------------

I stirred. _Tiny gnomes are in my brain. They're playing my cellphone ring._ I moaned and sat up. It wasn't gnomes. It was my actual cellphone. I grabbed it.

"What?" I croaked.

"Where the h--- have you been?!!" Josef demanded. "I've been calling and calling!"

"Stupid boxes." I grumbled, kicking at one.

"Heather. Where. Are. You?!" Josef asked in a voice that told me he was probably in full vampire mode.

"OK. Short version: Man about to be crushed by boxes. I shoved him out of the way and got crushed instead. Just woke up." I explained.

"Get home. Now." He commanded and then hung up. That was my brother. Sentimental. Mr. Feelings. I climbed to my feet.

"Hey, she's awake! Hey, you OK, kid?" asked a voice. I felt an arm slip around my waist and looked up. A huge guy, probably the driver, looked at me, concerned.

"Uh-huh." I grunted. "Just a bit dizzy."

"We called you an ambulance. Those boxes were filled with cans of soda."

"Don't need an ambulance." I slurred. "Need to get home." I stumbled over to the edge of the truck and stared down at the pavement. What was this thing, a monster truck? I started to climb down and nearly fell. Just as it looked like it would be "Hello pavement", someone caught me by the waist and swung me to the ground.

"Heather, are you OK?" asked a concerned voice. I looked up………into the emerald eyes of Erik Occisor. With a gasp, I scrambled away from him, nearly falling again. Someone behind me grabbed my shoulders and I hit their chest. No! I was surrounded! Had to get away…..had to get to safety………

"Heather?" I looked up. David was looking worriedly at me.

"David!" I cried, throwing my arms around his neck and burying my face in his chest. "Take me home. Please!" I whispered.

"The car just arrived." He murmured before looking at the crowd.

"I'm going to take her home. Her brother has a doctor working for him, so he'll look at her." He announced. "She's a bit upset." Everyone nodded and the crowd dispersed. Erik was the last to leave.

"You sure you don't need my help?" he asked.

"I think I'm capable of taking her home." David replied, his voice sounding almost vampirical. Erik's eyes narrowed and he stepped close.

"Are you the one she wants?" he asked in a low growl.

"I think so." My friend replied coolly. Erik's lip curled scornfully.

"Bite me!" he snapped. A cold, cruel smile spread across David's face.

"You don't want me to." He replied coldly. "Trust me." With a final glare at the slayer, he half led, half dragged me towards the waiting car. I tumbled inside and croaked for our driver to go. **I guess being related to power means it rubs off on you. We got to the house in five minutes flat, as opposed to our usual fifteen in traffic.**

This time, David had to help me inside. The cool air of the air conditioning hit me full blast and I closed my eyes in relief. _That's better._

"_What the h--- did you do to my sister_?!!!" snarled a voice. I blearily opened my eyes and nearly screamed at the sight of Josef. He looked madder than I'd ever seen him – madder than I'd ever seen _anyone_.

"'M OK, Josef." I mumbled. "S'not his fault." Josef still looked pretty mad. David helped me collapse into a nearby chair. "Drink?" I asked. A huge mug of blood was instantly in my hand. I gulped down half of it before speaking. "Thanks."

"What's the big emergency?" Mick asked as David perched on the back of my chair.

"There's a new kid at school. His last name is Occisor." I answered. Silence couldn't have come faster if the Rapture had happened. Beth looked confused.

"I don't get it." She said.

"_Occisor_ is Latin for 'slayer'." Josef said quietly. Beth looked stunned.

"There's a _slayer_ in your _school_?" she gasped.

"There's another vampire kid who's on my debate team." I said with a shrug. "His name's Dylan. Nice guy." Beth looked somewhere between horrified and shocked.

"What do we do?" I asked, looking at Josef and Mick. My brother was silent, thinking.

"You two are not going back to that school until we figure out what to do with this." He said finally. "I need to go send a message." He added, leaving. I bit my lip.

"Uh-oh."

"This is not good." Mick said.

"What? Who's he calling?" Beth asked. Mick and I exchanged glances.

"The others." I replied. "All of them."

**The plot thickens! Hee hee! Enjoy this chapter and please review!**


	6. Chapter 6

**Disclaimer: I don't own Moonlight or CBS. If I did, this show would have a lot more episodes!**

**A/N: thanks to all of you for reviewing!**

_It had been six weeks since we'd been turned. Josef and I were slowly but surely getting used to the whole vampire thing. Lexy and Lars had become like our parents…… in a weird, twisted sort of way. I no longer went to my lessons and Josef and I stayed cooped up in the apartment all day. It was really boring, actually. _

_One afternoon, I was sitting at the table talking with Josef when Lars suddenly burst in._

"_LEXY!!!!" he roared before spotting us. I almost screamed: He was bleeding!_

"_What happened?" I cried, running to him. He pushed me away._

"_I need my sister…… where's my sister? LEXY!!!" he bellowed. Lexy came hurrying from the bedroom._

"_Lars, what on earth-!"_

"_We have to go! Now!" he urged. He rushed over and began dragging Josef and I towards the door. _

"_Lars, what is going on?" Lexy demanded. He hollered one word._

"_Slayers!" at this, Lexy started herding us outside. We heard an explosion from the back. I yelped and Lars shoved us into the wagon and ordered us to go. We did as we were ordered. I started crying, scared. Lexy soothed me while Josef drove. Scarcely had we gone a mile when someone leapt into the back of the wagon. Lars! He was panting and his shirt and chin were stained red._

"_Lars?" I whimpered. He sat down next to me._

"_I'm OK, Heather. I'm OK." He said soothingly. "He's dead."_

"Heather……Heather, wake up. Heather!" I sat up, breathing heavily. I was in the living room. David was sitting next to me. "Are you OK?" he asked, concerned.

"Yeah." I replied. "Bad dream." He nodded.

"The others are here." He said. I looked around. A family was filing in, all redheads. I let out a happy cry and leapt up from the couch.

"Dylan!" I squealed, hugging my friend. "It's great to see you!" He grinned at me. Dylan was a very handsome guy, with red hair, brown eyes, and sparkling teeth. He's not like most of the teen vampires, who don't like humans. In fact, half of his friends are girls. Human ones, that is. Yeah, he's got the vampire charm. What vampire doesn't?

"Ah, Heather. Lovely to see you again." Said a voice. I clenched my teeth. I'd spoken too soon. **In every species, there's always one guy who's self conceited and arrogant enough to think that he can rule the species instead of the leader. Marlon Quincy was one of those guys.**

I looked up. Marlon stood there, looking like a Greek god. Blonde hair, captivating smile, icy blue eyes, muscles, the works. I didn't trust him as far as I could've thrown him. _And he's not very Earth dynamic._

"Marlon." I said, knowing how much he hated being called by his first name. "What're you doing here? Did something die?"

"Your jokes are as dreary as ever, Heather." Said a voice. **You know those sayings, where one thing follows another? "Where there's smoke, there's fire", "Where there's a trickle there's a stream", that kind of thing? Well, in this case, where there's Marlon, there's Eugene, his brother.**

"And your hair is still as plastic as the last time I saw it." I growled, glaring at the vampire, who looked like a younger version of Marlon. He smiled.

"Ah, Heather." He sighed. "Still resisting fate, are we?"

**OK, here's another side note. You know how in all the old movies, it's destiny for the gorgeous girl to end up with the evil leader of the group? Kind of like in the Sound of Music, how the baroness is supposed to end up with the captain? Well, Eugene has that sort of idea with me. He thinks I'm his betrothed. Guess who the evil jerk husband is?**

"Still not brushing, are we?" I shot back. His mouth snapped shut and he moved forward threateningly. I tensed. _C'mon, Bat Boy. Come and get me._ Marlon grabbed his brother's shoulder.

"Don't." he warned.

"Good advice, Eugene." I taunted. "I'd listen to your big brother if I were you."

"At least mine never put anyone in a coma!" he squeaked furiously. The room went silent. Everyone knew about Sarah, the woman Josef had tried to turn and who was now the modern day Sleeping Beauty. Without the whole waking up part. But another thing everyone knew was that you didn't mention it. Ever. My eyes turned silver and I felt my fangs pierce my bottom lip. That was going to sting later on. I snarled, baring my fangs. Everyone, even the Evil twins, drew back. But they didn't draw back far enough. Before I could rip them to shreds, however, someone laid a hand on my shoulder.

"Heather, calm down." David said. That did it. My fangs retracted and my eyes returned to normal. David's hazel eyes stared into mine. I smiled at him and he smiled, too.

"Who's this?" Eugene asked from behind me. David whirled. In less than a second, he was glaring at Eugene with a glower that had only been rivaled by Josef earlier that afternoon. His fangs were bared too. Yipes.

"David, back off!" I told him. He glared once more at Eugene and Marlon, and then stormed over to where Beth was at the buffet table. Marlon glared after him.

"New pet, Konstantine?" he asked, his lip curling scornfully. Just then, Josef and Mick walked in. Josef saw Eugene and Marlon and looked like a tiger who'd just been hit by a rock thrown by the stupid hunter.

**One more thing about the Quincy brothers. Josef hates them.**

Slowly, they walked over to me.

"Josef." Marlon said, smiling that _you can't do anything to me in front of witnesses_ smile.

"Quincy." Josef growled back in the _I should have tossed a flamethrower in your freezer_ tone. I winced. This wasn't going as well as expected. Fortunately, Dylan came to the rescue.

"Josef, it's great to see you." He said cheerfully. "We didn't come too early, did we?" Josef looked at Dylan, the glare gone from his face. No one can stay mad at that kid.

"No, Dylan. You're right on time. Everyone! Please, gather around." He called. Everyone sat down in chairs or on the floor. I sat in between Dylan and David. The Quincy's, I noticed, sat as far away from us as possible. Josef went to the front of the room, Mick at his side. "Thank you all for coming." he began. "I know that this meeting is uncalled for and short notice, but I assure you, it's of the utmost importance to us all."

"Tell me, _Konstantine_," Marlon said suddenly. "If this 'meeting' is important to the vampirical race, then why is there a human present?" At this, everyone turned towards Beth, who began to look a bit freaked out.

"She's a friend." Josef replied. Everyone but Marlon and Eugene nodded and settled back down.

"As I recall, _Josef_," Marlon said, walking slowly towards Beth, his eyes beginning to change and his fangs extending. "Having _any_ human at a meeting shows only that the host is good, providing his guests with a fresh snack." He lunged. Josef snapped his fingers. Beth screamed. Eugene shrieked, a very girlish sound. The crowd gasped. And Marlon? Well, he kind of gurgled. It's hard to make coherent sounds when you're being held by the throat.

"Gaaah! Beh! GUUUNH!!!" Marlon gurgled. We all stared at him. He repeated it.

"What's he saying?" someone asked. Josef sighed.

"Let him go, James." He ordered. The man holding Marlon did so reluctantly, and then stood in front of Beth, glaring at everyone who so much as looked at her the wrong way. Marlon dropped to the floor, massaging his throat.

"That was….uncalled for!" he gasped.

"Was it?" Mick asked, his voice icy. "You tried to attack her!"

"She's a human!"

"No!" I snarled. "You think?"

"Marlon, get back to your seat! James, kindly move aside so that Miss Turner can see, thank you." Josef commanded. Marlon crawled back to his seat and James obediently moved behind Beth.

"Who's he?" David asked.

"James Silver." I whispered back. "Vampire bounty hunter."

"He works for Josef?"

"No. He's just kind of protective of humans."

"Why?"

"He's married to one." I replied. Josef cleared his throat and the room fell silent again.

"As I was saying." He said. "We have a problem." Then he began to tell them, in detail, who had just moved to LA. Needless to say, several people freaked out. And by "freaked out", I mean, "Began planning to move."

"There's no need for that kind of talk!" Josef said sternly. "We just need to figure out who it is so that he or she can be dealt with. Now, has anyone seen anyone new in their apartments, schools or workplaces?" Almost every hand shot up.

"Oh boy." I sighed. "This is gonna take a while."

**Here's the next chapter! Hope you all enjoy and please review!**


	7. Chapter 7

**Disclaimer: I do not own Moonlight or CBS, in any way, shape or form. I'm not lying. I really don't.**

**A/N: Thanks again to all of you who are sticking with me and sending me positive reviews! You guys rock!**

It turned out that Erik Occisor had a big family: Two parents, three pairs of aunts and uncles, four grandparents, twelve cousins, five siblings and a dog. That was twenty nine potential threats. Thirty if you believe that Lucky could kill a vampire. Josef managed to calm mostly everyone down and said that we had plenty of room for any younger vampires to stay at our house if it would make their families feel safer. Several people accepted. Then James raised his hand and everyone fell silent.

"Can Megan and the kids stay here?" he asked. Josef nodded. No one contradicted him. Even though James is married to a human and has two human kids, that doesn't mean he's weakened by them or anything. Unlike in most stories, where the superhero's girlfriend is too wimpy to do anything when the bad guy targets her, Megan could easily kill any guy who came after her or her kids. And if anything ever _did_ happen to them, well, let's just say that the Cleaner would have a busy night.

"This is insane." Marlon said loudly. "Playing hide-and-seek with them isn't going to save us. It'll just delay our inevitable demise." Everyone looked at Josef, who, frankly, looked as if he'd gotten up on the wrong side of the freezer.

"Marlon, I'm warning you," he said in a low voice. "I'm offering your family a chance of safety. Take it." Marlon sneered at him and then dragged his brother out. Eugene grinned at me.

"See you around!" he called. I rolled my eyes. Some guys never learned. Just then, one of Josef's aides ran in.

"We have a problem!" he announced.

"Speak." Josef ordered.

"The police scanner just announced that a decapitated body was found outside of a home owned by someone named Silver……" the aide didn't need to finish. We all looked at James before superspeeding to our cars or limos or whatever.

**People say that there's no hell like a woman who's been scorned. That may be true, I don't know. But I do know that if you mess with a vampire's loved ones, you're going to wish you'd taken the woman's scorning.**

--------------------------------------------------------------

Police cars were outside James' house when we arrived. Some of the cops looked surprised, even a bit concerned, to see so many people arriving. I didn't blame them. We looked like some kind of army. James bulled through the yellow tape and charged towards the nearest police officer.

"Where is she? Where's Megan?" he demanded.

"I'm sorry, sir, but unless you're related to the homeowner--!" He was hauled onto his toes by the collars.

"I _am_ the homeowner. Where…..is …..My …..Wife?" James snarled.

"James!" screamed a voice. James released the officer and then ran a few steps forward. There was a blur and Megan was suddenly in his arms.

"I killed him." She sobbed into his shirt. "He was after me and the kids, and I grabbed the sword and killed him!" _See what I mean about Megan being able to handle herself?_

"It's all right. You're all right." James said over and over.

"Daddy!" shrieked two voices. Two other figures ran over and hugged him. James, one arm still gripping his wife, pulled them into a hug.

"It's OK, you two." He said, sounding relieved that they, too, were safe. Josef, meanwhile, was grilling the policeman.

"There were two intruders, maybe three. But as soon as the wife, uh, stopped, the first one, the other two ran off." He explained. Josef nodded and then looked at James.

"We'll find them." He and the officer said at the same time. They then looked sharply at each other.

"Thank you, officer." James said. He led Megan and the two kids back towards their car. Josef and I followed. Mick smiled at Megan as the Silver family passed, and then looked at Josef, whose eyes were burning.

"We have to get this guy before the police do." He said sternly.

"Why?" Beth asked. Josef either didn't hear or didn't care, so I explained.

"If the police get him, he'll just get sent to jail." I said, sounding like prison time was a simple time out.

"So?" Beth said. James walked up to us.

"He went after my family." He said furiously. "He will die!" Beth looked horrified, but I couldn't disagree. It was part of the vampirical code. We were sort of like a dysfunctional family. If one of us was threatened or attacked, blood had to be paid. It was law. The Occisor family would pay for this.

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"Heather?" asked a voice. I looked up sharply and nearly yelped. Erik Occisor stood next to me. I was in a bookstore, looking for some books to get for the Silver kids, thirteen year old Mattie and eleven year old Daniel.

"What're you doing here?" I demanded. He looked taken aback.

"Just looking." He said, sounding hurt. "Is that a crime?" **It's nothing compared to what I'll do to you if I find out it was you that tried to kill the Silver family.**

"I'm just surprised to see you here." I stammered, smiling at him.

"Likewise. I thought you were sick?"

"Family reunion." I said smoothly. "My brother took me out of school so that I could help out. You know how it is."

"Yeah. I have a huge family. Twenty nine………..I mean, twenty eight of us living under one roof."

"Did something happen to one of them?" I asked, sounding sympathetic. _Like did they attack a family and get whacked because they went after two kids in front of their mother?_

"Yeah. One of my cousins………he and my sister went out and he was murdered." Erik said, sounding so sincere I wanted to vomit.

"Murdered? What happened?" I asked, sounding shocked and horrified.

"Some crazy person killed him." Erik said in a choked voice.

"I'm so sorry." I said kindly. He shrugged and his expression hardened.

"He'll be avenged." He said simply. **You know, when I first got to high school, I thought that it would pass, but I realized I was wrong. No matter how old you get, you always get that urge to strangle an annoying kid.**

"Didn't the police catch him?" I asked.

"Winnie didn't tell them. It's a personal matter."

"Erik, you really should tell the police!" I told him. _For your own safety._

"We can handle it!" he said firmly. I shook my head.

"I'm telling the police." I insisted, turning as if to go talk to the nearest cop. Erik grabbed my arm. I felt a chill go up my spine. It _hurt._ "Erik!" I gasped.

"You don't tell _anyone_." He hissed. "Got it? You just stay out of it and mind your own business. OK Heather?"

"Erik…" I begged.

"OK?" he persisted, squeezing harder.

"OK!" I gulped, near tears. He released me and I rubbed my arm.

"Is there a problem here?" asked a voice. We both looked up and I was surprised to see none other than Marlon Quincy standing there, his ice blue eyes cold. **Just when you think that you'd never be happy to see a guy, he shows up just in time to save your butt.**

"Marlon!" I cried. He glanced at me and I could just imagine what he saw: Pale face, red and bruised arm, and tear filled eyes. This did not bode well.

"Heather." He said before turning to Erik. "I said, is there a problem here?"

"If there is, it's none of your business." Erik said primly, sounding like – oh good lord – Marlon himself.

"Wrong answer." The older vampire growled. "You don't touch her again. Ever." Erik's green eyes narrowed and he opened his mouth to say something, but Marlon's next words cut him short:

"I know what you are." Erik stared at him, his eyes widening. Marlon grabbed his shoulder, hard. "And if you know what's good for you, you'll start chasing what your kind chases, instead of poor human girls!" With that, Marlon shoved him away, put an arm around my shoulders, and led me out of the store. When we were outside, I let out my breath, gulping in sweet, fresh air. I heard Marlon muttering not so very nice things about the Occisor family.

"Th-thanks." I said in a trembling voice. Marlon looked at me.

"You all right?" he asked, sounding genuinely concerned.

"Does he suspect?" I whispered. He wordlessly shook his head. "Then I'm fine. I was afraid I'd given myself away by insisting he go to the police."

"It was something any human would do. Now come on, I'm taking you home." I stared at him.

"You? _You're_ taking me home?" I gasped.

"Yes."

"But…..But you hate me." I said, confused. He laughed.

"I do not hate you, Heather. Or Josef, however surprising that may be. I simply believe that we should act now, not let them get the upper hand."

"You heard about last night?" I asked. He nodded and we got into the car.

"Is Silver's family safe?"

"Yeah. They're at our place."

"Good. I wanted to go to the attack place tonight."

"It was the Occisors, wasn't it?" I guessed. He nodded.

"I managed to get a good look at the body. It was one of the cousins."

"So Erik told me. If it turns out that the whole family was involved, do you think that Josef will order an attack on them?" I asked.

"I think he would, to protect us all. Why? Do you have reservations?"

"No." I said, my eyes going silver and my fangs growing. "Just know that I want Erik. He's mine."

**Hopefully everyone likes this chapter! Enjoy, and don't forget to review!**


	8. Chapter 8

**Disclaimer: I don't own Moonlight, only in my dreams.**

**A/N: Thanks to all for your amazing reviews!**

When Marlon and I walked into the house, Josef, Mick and Beth looked up. At the sight of Marlon, Josef stood, eyes narrowing.

"It's cool." I said hastily. "He was just giving me a lift." My brother's eyes flickered to meet Marlon's.

"She ran into the Occisor boy in a bookstore." Marlon said calmly. "I intervened." **There's something in all guys, human or vampire, that reacts to certain words. Words like "miniskirt" "free" "food" "buffet" "danger" "fight" "threat" and "intervened". To guys, words like those mean that either something happened, or is going to happen. In this case, it was the former.**

Josef glanced at me, his eyes roving over my body, searching for any marks or bruises. My legs seemed fine, considering the fact that I was walking, my stomach and chest area were unscathed, my arms – my _arms_!!! Why hadn't I pulled on a jacket before coming inside so that Josef could see the bruises on my _arm_!? _Because it's almost 90 degrees out, that's why, _a slower part of my brain informed me. Josef's Big Brother Radar went crazy. His eyes turned silver and it looked like he was going to sink his fangs into the couch.

"It's not as bad as it looks!" I said hastily. "He-He just grabbed me," Whoops. "For like, a second." Better.

"You were on the verge of tears when I arrived." Marlon put in. I shot him a look. _Curse you!_ Josef snarled.

**I know what you're thinking: "All guys are like that. They never want to see a girl cry." This is different. Most normal guys just go swing a few fists over the girl's tears. My brother aims for the throat.**

"I'm OK." I protested.

"You stay _away_ from him!!" Josef growled. "Got that? You see him anywhere, you go the other way."

"I will." I promised.

"She says that when we go for them, she wants the boy to herself." Marlon said. I glared at him. _Will you shut up already?_ Josef looked at me.

"That true?" he asked.

"Yeah." I said, crossing my arms over my chest. "So what?" My brother had a look on his fact that was a mixture of pride and annoyance.

"We'll talk about this later." He said between clenched teeth. "Go get some rest." I nodded and started for my room.

"Hey, can I go with you guys tonight to check out the crime scene?" I asked. _Hey, might as well go ahead while he's in the mood. _Josef looked like he was doing the whole "count to five" thing that Jack always does on "Lost".

"I suppose." He finally answered. _Success!!_

"Thanks!" I said happily before going into my room and climbing into my freezer.

_The year was 1789. Josef and I had heard about America and we wanted to go. It sounded new, exciting, and free. The only problem was Lars and Lexy refused to let us go to a country whose leaders had turned their backs on their own people. Josef spent many nights arguing with them. Those were the nights I ended up crying myself to sleep. I don't know why Josef and I wanted to go so badly. Maybe it was because we'd been alive for one hundred and fifty two years and had lived in England all that time. Our family and all of our friends were long dead, and we had nothing to tie us down. Except for Lars and Lexy. Our relationships with our sires were………confusing at best. On one hand, they were like our parents, we loved them like a son and daughter did. We relied on them._

_On the other hand, they'd created us; they'd turned us into what we were. They were like our slave masters, holding us back from everything we could do. It was like we were the trained dogs and they wouldn't let us perform. We hated them._

_One night, I was sleeping peacefully (okay, as peacefully as a vampire can sleep) when Josef awoke me. We left the house and ran until we were about a mile away from the house, away from their superhearing._

"_We've got to get out of here." Josef said._

"_How?" I asked eagerly. _

"_We need to get rid of Lars and Lexy. They've taught us what we need to know." My brother said calmly. I knew what he meant: They weren't useful anymore._

"_What do you suggest?" I asked in the same tone. He told me his plan, and I liked it. __**Is there something about becoming a vampire that gives you joy in doing bad things? I knew that Josef was talking about murder, but it didn't bother me. Lars and Lexy had been dead too long.**_

_A few hours later, we sat on the hill overlooking our home, watching. My vampire vision saw through the windows, it saw Lars stirring, beginning to lift the lid on his icebox. Lexy was doing the same. KABOOM!!!! The match had lit when scraped against the wood. The gunpowder had ignited. They were dead. We were free._

"Heather, up and at 'em."

"Pretty flames…." I slurred.

"Yes, Heather. The flames are beautiful. Get up."

"What flames is she talking about?"

"I don't know."

I opened my eyes and sat up.

"The flames from the gunpowder." I said to Josef and Mick.

"Gunpowder??" Josef asked, but then he started chuckling. "Yeah. Those flames were delightful." Mick looked at both of us like we'd gone insane. I got out of my freezer and went to get changed while I listened to Josef explaining that we'd blown something up and I'd been dreaming about it. The truth and not the truth. Dang, my race is crafty! I rejoined them, now wearing all black.

"Let's go."

-----------------------------------------------------------

We arrived at the Silver house at exactly 12:01 am, after leaving at 11:58 pm. Ah, the joys of superspeed. There were five in our party: Josef, Marlon, Mick, Beth, and me. We were going to find out what had happened. I stopped at the scene of the crime and closed my eyes, inhaling deeply. Yeah, there it was: The past.

"_Get away from us!" Megan screamed, holding tight to Mattie and Daniel. _

"_Where's your husband?" one of the figures in black taunted. "Off killing other innocent people?"_

"_He didn't do anything to you!" Megan snarled. _

"_He _existed_!" the other figure spat. "And you turned your back on your own kind and married a monster!"_

"_Who's the monster?" Megan laughed bitterly. "The man who hunts down killers to protect the innocent or the cowards who come after the wife and children?" _

"_He's a murderer!" the third figure insisted. Daniel broke free of his mother's hold and ran over to start beating at the figure._

"_Don't you talk that way about my father!" he screamed. The person sneered and drew a sharp metal stake._

"_Spawn of Satan, get off of me!" he yelled, raising the stake. Megan moved faster than anyone, even with superspeed. Shoving Mattie towards the back door, she grabbed the sword hanging over the fireplace and lunged. _

"_NO!"_

I started. Josef and the others were watching me.

"We cleared the rest of the house." Josef explained. "What happened?"

"The cousin who died went after Daniel with a stake." I said simply. Hey, if _they_ wanted to see what happened, have _them_ look into the past. Mick winced.

"In front of his mother?" Beth asked. I nodded. "That's an accident waiting to happen." She commented. I didn't wonder how she knew this. It was the rule of the world, not matter what species you were: Protect the young. At any costs.

"Was it the sister and the cousin?" Marlon asked. I clenched my teeth and shook my head.

"No. It was the cousin, the father, and Erik."

"I'll kill him." Said a voice. James stood in the doorway, his eyes blazing.

"Which one?" Marlon asked. "Heather has already claimed the boy." James looked at me and nodded.

"He's all yours. I want the father." He said venomously. We went home. Later that evening, I was in my room when someone knocked on the door. I looked up. Beth stood in the doorway, looking nervous.

"What's up?" I asked.

"Can I ask you something?" she asked.

"Sure."

"Is what happened back there normal?"

"Which part?" I joked. "The seeing the past, the mom defending her young, or the decision of who gets to kill who?"

"All of it." She confessed, sitting on my bed.

"Well, vampires can see the past, and Megan's great great great grandfather was a knight, so that's not unusual. About the whole divvying up the Occisors, not really that typical."

"It's not the sort of thing you see everywhere."

"No, it's not. But the Occisors have to pay for what they did, and we need to be sure to keep the vampirical race safe."

"But why did James let you have Erik?"

"I have a bigger past with Erik than the others do. I know what he's like; I'd be the best person to go up against him."

"Why wait? Why aren't you going after them right now?" Beth asked. I looked at the clock.

"For starters, it's almost four o'clock in the morning and it's not sportsmanlike to go after someone when he's down. Also, we need to strategize. How we get in there, who's the best person to go after who, how we cover it up, and things like that."

"When you do……go, do you think I'll be able to come?" Beth asked. **Does she think this is some kind of story? That this is a game?**

"No." I told her honestly. "First of all, Mick wouldn't let you. It'd be too dangerous. And second, this is between the vampires and the slayers. No humans are involved." She nodded and then stood up to go. "Beth," I said, causing her to look at me. "Don't think that any of this is a cool story. This is real life." She nodded again and left. I hated to be the one who had to tell her that, but she needed to realize that movies like _Dracula_ or _Van Helsing_ were fictional, nothing more. This was real. Despite what most people thought, there wasn't much fun in vampirism.

**OK, here's the next chapter. Thanks for being patient, and hope you like it! Please R&R!**


	9. Chapter 9

**Disclaimer: I don't own Moonlight, and if you think I do, then this is news to me.**

**A/N: Thanks to all of you for your great reviews! Keep up the good work!**

"Bye Larry!" I called as I exited the bookstore. After running into Erik at the bookstore, I hadn't gotten Mattie and Daniel any books, so I'd decided to go back later, when a member of my own species was working there. Larry waved and I headed towards home. Two men in front of a bar stepped in front of me. I stopped.

"Can I help you?" I asked.

"Hey sister, can you spare a buck?" one man asked. I thought about it.

"I prefer "_Brother, Can You Spare a Dime?_", but I guess that works. No." I answered before walking on. One grabbed my arm and turned me around to face him.

"C'mon." he whined. "We just want a beer."

"And I just want to pass algebra." I quipped. "But it doesn't look like either of those things is gonna happen in the near future. Buzz off." I pulled free and started on my way again. The men exchanged glances and then bulled me into the alley between the bar and the next building over.

"You've gotta have a buck somewhere!" one man protested, grabbing for my purse.

"Get your grubby paws off my stuff." I commanded. Both men hesitated, obviously not used to hearing someone my age speak with such authority, but then one man pinned me against the wall.

"I think we've found somethin' better than beer, Moe." He said with a grin. "Look at 'er."

"'Moe'?" I repeated venomously. "Does that make you Larry or Curly?" Moe slapped me. Jeez, my cousin's baby hits harder!

"Shut your trap!" Moe ordered. Larry/Curly stroked my face.

"Relax, Moe. She's just actin' tough 'cause she's scared. It's all right, baby doll. We aren't gonna hurt you."

"No, I'll hurt you if you don't get off of me!" I growled.

"She thinks she's so tough!" Moe said with a grin. "Can I 'ave her first?" He reached out to caress my neck. His fingers brushed my skin, and I felt them touching the only scars I had: two faint puncture wounds. I lost it for the first time in almost three hundred years: I turned vampire without even thinking. My eyes turned silver and my fangs shot out. I sank them into Moe's wrist. He screamed and reeled back, blood streaming from his wrist. I kicked Larry/Curly to the ground and then slammed my foot into his spine. It snapped and he went limp. Moe was staring at me in horror. "What are you!?" he gasped.

"A leftover from Halloween." I snarled before lunging at him.

About an hour later, I stepped out of the alley, purse in hand. The owner of the bar was just locking up. He saw me and his eyes widened.

"Those two thugs didn't…..? I'll kill 'em if they touched you!"

"I'm fine, sir." I said soothingly, putting on the charm. "Go on home." He nodded and then walked over to his car. I watched him go and then pulled out my cellphone.

"Cleaner? Heather Konstantine here. I need a cleanup……Yeah, there's been an incident."

-----------------------------------------------------

After she'd done her job, the Cleaner was kind enough to give me a ride home. Josef, Mick and Beth were waiting up for me. All three looked worried when they saw me.

"I'm OK." I said. "I just…….need some space, OK?" Josef nodded and hugged me. I hugged him back before heading to my freezer.

------------------------------------------------------

_1896_

_Josef and I were living in Wisconsin when I had my first encounter with a slayer. It was late one night, and one of Josef's freshies was coming up. I had fed earlier, so I didn't really notice when she didn't show up. Josef didn't either, until he looked at the clock._

"_Where's Lydia?" he asked. I looked up and then shrugged. "She was supposed to be here by now," Josef muttered, beginning to pace. I sighed and stood up, knowing that neither of us would get any sleep until Josef knew she was either at home or here. _

"_I'll go take a look outside." I informed my brother, who barely noticed that I'd been in the room, much less spoken. Once outside, I sniffed the air. Because of Lydia's frequent visits, I was able to smell her from three miles away. When I smelled the scent of her that I got, I nearly vamped out fully. I didn't just smell her; I smelled her blood. My eyes narrowed and I supersped towards the scent. __**Vampires are protective of three things: family, food, and themselves. I wasn't sure if I considered Lydia food or family, but the thought of her in pain made my blood boil.**_

_I stopped near a cave, doing the usual listen and smell routine before entering. It was a good thing that I did._

"_Let me go! You're hurting me! Let me go!" shrieked a voice that I recognized as Lydia's._

"_Hold still. I'm not hurting you, I'm protecting you from those monsters. Where are they?"_

"_I don't know what you're talking about." Lydia said defiantly._

"_If you don't tell me, I'll get it out of you." The other person warned. __**A**__**threat. A verbal, real, honest-to-goodness threat against one of **_**my** _**humans. That was like a death order! **_

_I stepped into the cave, fully vamped out now._

"_Someone call for a monster?" I growled. In the moonlight, I__saw two figures: a bound Lydia, and a man. The man was my enemy._

"_You came to get your dinner." He mocked. "How cute." _

"_Actually, I fed earlier." I retorted. "Now get away from her." He stood up and pulled out a wooden stake. Typical human. _

"_Or what?" he asked with a sneer. _

"_Don't try me." I cautioned. He licked his lips in a disgusting manner. _

"_I don't know. For a monster, you're pretty." He said with a leering grin. "It's a shame I'll have to kill you and your food."_

"_Bring it on." I growled, baring my teeth. We began to circle each other, slowly. "You know what?" I asked. "I just realized that I am a bit hungry. What's your type?" He laughed at me and then lunged. I dodged the stake and kicked his legs out from under him. The stake clattered across the cavern floor to Lydia. He tried to get up, but I trapped him with my knee. "You know," I continued. "You slayers just aren't what you used to be." He let out a snarl and shoved me aside. I fell to one side, taken off guard. _

"_I can't kill you, but I can kill your prey!" he cried, and I saw him pull a revolver. __**Of all the things in the world that I hate, guns are at the top. They are just so……annoying. Loud, painful, messy. They just aggravate me.**_

_I roared in rage and leapt at him, clinging to his back like a redheaded monkey with fangs. Before he could even pull the hammer back, I'd sunk my teeth into his neck. No one was going to get Lydia. No one._

---------------------------------------------------

I sat up in my freezer, for once not being woken up by anyone or anything. This was voluntary. I got out of my freezer and got dressed, and then supersped out of the mansion and to the Occisor home. I glanced at my watch. Good, it was only 4:15 pm. Enough time for me to be arriving from school. I took a deep breath and then rang the doorbell. It was opened by a giant man, with bulging eyes that stared at me.

"Hi." I squeaked, sounding like a nervous human girl. "Is…Is Erik here?" The giant nodded once and then stepped aside, slamming the door behind me after I stepped in. Humans could be so overdramatic sometimes. The giant led me down a long hallway and I saw battleaxes and other war paraphernalia all over the place. _Wow, Erik. That's _real_ inconspicuous. _The giant opened a door and stepped inside, leaving the door open a crack. I smirked and listened in:

"What is it?" asked a male voice irritably. "We're working."

"Someone's here to see Erik." The giant rumbled.

"Who?" Erik's voice asked.

"Unless it's a vampire, it doesn't matter!" the first voice barked. "We need to dispose of Silver!"

"Who is it?" Erik repeated.

"A girl." The giant grunted. I heard a chair scraping back and someone hurrying towards the door. I acted casual, acting as if I'd just been waiting patiently instead of eavesdropping. The door was jerked open and Erik was now staring at me.

"Heather?" he gasped.

"Hi Erik." I said shyly, as if I didn't want to rip him apart. "Sorry for just dropping in."

"Th-that's OK." He stammered. "We were just….talking. Heather, may I introduce my father, Leopold Occisor." He added as a man walked up. We shook and I added a bit of pressure to my grip to tell him that I wasn't someone to mess with.

"It's a pleasure to meet you, sir." I said cheerily. _In a few days, we're coming for you!_

"You too, young lady. That's a very powerful grip you have." Leopold noted.

"Thanks." I babbled. "I work out a bit." I released his hand and then grinned up at him, the epitome of annoying guest.

"If you'll excuse us, Father, Heather and I have some things to discuss." Erik said, taking my arm and leading me away. I saw the giant studying me, as if he knew something was wrong. I sent him a flashy grin and then ignored him. "What can I do for you, Heather?" Erik asked.

"I just wanted to apologize for my uncle the other day. He's really protective of me. I'm the baby of my mom's side." I said bashfully.

"No problem. I'm sorry if I hurt your arm." He said with a smile.

"I'll live." I said flippantly. _But you won't._ We chatted for a bit longer and then he showed me to the door. I said "bye" and then walked down their driveway to the gate.

"Do you get a kick out of near death experiences? Or do you just want to find out how much trouble you have to get into before Josef's head explodes?" asked a voice. I looked up and saw David Hatcher leaning against the outside of the gate, watching me.

"I was doing a little reconnaissance." I replied. "How'd you know where I was?"

"Josef called asking where you were. I told him that you had called, needing someone to talk to and we were going to hang out. Then I came looking."

"Thanks for the cover story." I said gratefully. "What would I do without you?"

"You'd have probably caused your brother a heart attack by now." He said with a grin, walking over to me. I laughed.

"Yeah, I probably would have." I agreed. He suddenly took my hand.

"C'mon, I want to show you something." He said. We walked (okay, I admit it, we supersped a little) to his house. When we got there, Bea was curled up on the couch, watching TV.

"Hey Bea." I said. She winked at me and then went back to the TV. David led me upstairs and into his room. I gasped at the sight. He'd painted his wall. It looked like there was a curtain of ivy around the entire room. "It's beautiful." I whispered.

"That's not what I wanted to show you." He told me. Still holding my hand, he took me up a spiral staircase and into….a tower. I looked down and found myself staring at an entire field of roses. I laughed, feeling like a fairy tale princess. "Great isn't it?" David asked from behind me.

"It's wonderful!" I cried, spinning into his arms. He grinned at me and then looked slightly stunned. I realized that this was the closest we'd ever been to each other. I wondered if I should step back, widen the distance between us. Before I could move, David leaned down towards me and gently pressed his lips against mine. My arms snaked up his spine, pulling him closer as I kissed him back. His hand pressed against my hair, stroking it. When we finally parted, he looked at me and then smiled. I smiled back and laid my head against his chest.

"Well, it appears that your visit helped you, Heather." Said a voice. We looked up. Josef, Mick and Beth were standing in the doorway. Mick looked like he was trying not to laugh, Beth looked sort of shocked, and Josef just looked smug. Instead of giving him the satisfaction of being annoyed, I smiled.

"Yep, it sure did." I replied. Mick started laughing and tried to smother it with his hand. "Is it time to go?" I asked Josef.

"For all of us." He answered. "We're dropping Beth off on the way." David and I stared at him.

"You mean tonight…..?" I gasped.

"At dusk." He answered. "Let's go." We went downstairs, where everyone was already gathered. Josef laid out the plan of who would get who. It was long, but I got Erik, James got Leopold, Bea got Winnie and David got a brother named Serge, who had been in his PE class. I looked around at all the grim faces and then stood up. This was it.

**Wow, this chapter was long! So sorry for all the delays, my internet is being retarded. Please enjoy and don't forget to review!**


	10. Chapter 10

**Disclaimer: I don't own Moonlight. If I did…………then I would be a lot richer.**

**A/N: Thanks to all for your patience and reviews!**

I looked at my watch. It was 6:58.00. In one minute and sixty seconds, we would go in and take out the Occisors. I looked at Mick.

"Check again." I whispered.

"Beth isn't here, Heather." He said patiently.

"Mick!" I hissed. He rolled his eyes and sniffed the air.

"No Beth," he reported. I sighed with relief, nodding at Josef. While Josef did like Beth, if she showed up here tonight, he'd probably kill her. No one wanted this mission to be ruined because of a human technicality. My watch hit 7:00.00 and we all stood up as one. Josef and James leading, we walked down the slope towards the Occisor's mansion. When we reached the front door, Josef rang the doorbell. As before, it was opened by the giant, who looked confused and annoyed at seeing so many people on the front lawn.

"We need to speak to the family." Josef said calmly. The giant arched an eyebrow and shook his head. Josef sighed and stepped aside. Instantly, Marlon shot up the steps, bulling into the giant. Now, Marlon is kind of like my brother. He watches people deal out pain instead of doing it himself. But he's still a vampire. So we all watched as the giant slid across the floor of the foyer, Marlon on top of him. The giant's fist came up, slamming into Marlon's picture perfect face. There was a crunching noise, a gasp of pain, and the giant's howl of agony. Eugene roared at the sound of his brother being hit, but some of the older vampires restrained him from helping out. The giant's howl did not go unnoticed. Winnie ran in. She saw us and her eyes narrowed threateningly.

"Vampires!" she growled, drawing a huge sword from her side. **Where do they **_**get**_** these things?** "Which one of you wants to die first?" Bea stepped forward.

"Pick me." She said dryly. Winnie snarled and swung the sword at her. I heard one of the female vampires behind me gasp in horror at the thought of Bea getting decapitated, but Bea was suddenly standing behind Winnie. "Nice sword." She commented casually. Winnie cried out in surprise and then turned to face her. Josef cocked his head to one side, listening.

"The rest are retreating further into the mansion." He said calmly. "Go to your assignments everyone, and remember the rules." We nodded and then we all shot off, rapidly disappearing in the many hallways of the manor. I passed the room where Leopold and Erik had been earlier and glanced inside, seeing James and Leopold circling each other. I kept going. It was one of "the rules": You don't try and help a vampire fight his foe. It was a bad idea. I was heading for Erik's room when I caught a familiar smell: Tall, blonde, blue eyed, warm blooded……and curious. I stifled a groan. _Beth, do you want to get yourself killed?!_ I leapt over the banister, landing on the steps leading down. As I got closer and closer to Beth, I detected another scent: Erik. I poured on the speed. It was time to kill two birds with one stone; or in this case, two humans with one vampire. I burst into a basement room. Beth was backed into a corner, Erik standing in front of her, a raised stake in one hand. **Remember that protectiveness I mentioned earlier? Well, Beth was definitely family.** I snarled and ran over, grabbing his wrist and flipping him onto his back. I snapped the stake in half and tossed the pieces aside.

"Beth, stay back." I warned. Erik got up and stared at me.

"Heather?" he gasped. "You? You're one of _them_?"

"If you mean a vampire, then yes." I answered.

"That's impossible!" he yelled. I extended my fangs and looked at him with silver eyes.

"Nothing is impossible for vampires." I replied. "They can change anyone." His shoulders slumped and he bowed his head. Then he started laughing. I stared at him like he was insane. He looked up at me, grinning.

"Why am I surprised?" he asked. "Everything pointed to it. Your "fasting", your "tinted limousine", how you were completely unharmed after that case fell on you, how you pleaded with me to go to the police after we attacked Silver, and how you showed up yesterday to "apologize". You're nothing more than a lying, cheating, bloodsucking murderess!" he accused me.

"I don't murder children." I growled. He smiled sadly.

"Even if they're related to criminals? The sins of the father are inherited by the sons."

"That's a myth!" I snarled, baring my teeth.

"Hah! Tell me something, Heather. Why did you tell me to go to the police?" he asked.

"It seemed like the humane thing to do." I answered.

"So it wasn't because you cared about me and didn't want me to get hurt?"

"I never wanted it to come to this, Erik."

"Ah, what a good lie!" he chuckled.

"It's not a lie." I protested.

"Then why kill me now?" he challenged.

"You went after a family member." I answered seriously. "We have to eliminate the threat."

"You can let me escape! Tell them you couldn't find me!" he suggested.

"No, I can't. They'd come for you instead, Erik. They won't give you a chance."

"And you will?"

"At least I'm letting you fight!" I snarled. "By all rights, you should be dead already."

"So she wasn't sent after me?" he asked, nodding towards Beth. I smirked.

"She's a human reporter who wanted to get in on the story."

"But you're protecting her?" he asked.

"She's an old friend." I said with a shrug. He nodded and then his eyes flickered up, over my shoulder. My internal alarm system went wild. He'd been stalling for time! I spun around and was confused when I saw what was there: Nothing.

"Heather, watch out!" Beth screamed. I turned just as he hurled a knife at me. Without even flinching, my arm went up, spinning the knife away. It clattered to the floor, but Erik and I ignored it, our eyes locked on each other.

"Your instincts are better than I'd expected." Erik said coldly.

"After almost three hundred years, you learn." I retorted. We began to circle each other slowly. "What's your plan?" I asked.

"Kill you."

"Elegant in its simplicity, isn't it?" I sneered. He growled and lunged at me, a second knife in hand. I leapt back from his first swing and then leapt up into the air over his second. He arched an eyebrow.

"Three hundred years?" he asked.

"Two hundred and eighty six next month, but whose counting?" I answered. He chuckled and swiped at me again. I leapt back and was stunned when he kicked me into a wall. I bared my fangs.

"OK, now I'm mad." I snapped as I shoved myself forward. He kicked at me again, but I caught his leg. When he tried to stab me again, I knocked the knife away before elbowing him in the face and twisting his leg, sending him spinning onto the floor. He tried to get up and I kicked him in the stomach, throwing _him_ into a wall.

"Hurts, doesn't it?" I taunted. He growled and lunged at me, swinging wildly with his fists. I easily blocked them and kicked him in the stomach. He doubled over in pain and then straightened up, holding another knife. "Where do you hide these things?" I groaned. He charged at me and I sidestepped. All too late did I see his foot catch the edge of the rug, causing him to stumble and fall. He let out a cry of pain, like a kicked puppy. I waited for him to get up, but he just laid there. I frowned. "Erik? If this is some kind of trick you're trying to pull, you're dead!" Still, he just laid there. I knew he was alive, I could hear his heart beating. Something was wrong. I rolled him over and saw the blood on his hands, and the knife in his stomach. His face was pale and scared.

"Heather?" he whimpered. I felt a lump rising in my throat.

"I'm here." I answered. Tears began to slip out of his eyes and down his cheeks.

"Heather, I'm scared. Where's my mom? Mom? Mom, where are you?" he called desperately. I didn't answer. I'd heard her final screams; she couldn't hear him any more.

"She can't hear you." I told him gently.

"Heather, it hurts. Stop it, please!" he begged, his hands hovering around the knife, as if he was afraid I'd yank it out just to cause him pain. I listened for his heartbeat; it was weakening. I knew that there was only one way to stop the pain. I leaned over and looked into his eyes.

"Erik, I can stop the pain, but that'd stop everything." I told him softly.

"My family….?" He asked. I wordlessly shook my head. "Then do it. I-I want to be with them again." Tears began to slip down my cheeks as well. He was just a kid. He didn't deserve this. Erik saw them and smiled. "It's OK, Heather," he whispered.

"I don't want to do this." I sniffled.

"Y-You want to know a secret?" he asked.

"Sure." I said, smiling bravely for him.

"I knew that David was a vampire from day one. We all did. We were supposed to go after him first. B-But I knew that you l-loved him, so I told them that he could w-wait until last."

"Why would you do that?"

"I d-didn't want to hurt you. I-I liked you." He admitted. We both started crying again at this. Then another spasm of pain went through Erik and he groaned in pain.

"Erik!" I cried.

"Do it." He ordered. I stared at him, helpless. "Heather, do it!" My vision blurred by tears, I reached down and snapped his neck. I closed his emerald green eyes and whispered three words:

"I'm so sorry." Then I started sobbing, like, really sobbing. **When people think the word vampire, they picture cold hearted killers. What they don't understand is that for someone trying to protect their family, killing never gets easier.**

The door swung open and I saw David, his eyes searching for me. He was breathing heavily, no doubt having supersped over from his encounter with Serge. I stood up and walked towards him. He met me halfway and I collapsed in his arms, sobbing. Mick and Josef walked up a few minutes later, followed by Marlon. No one said anything. Until Josef saw Beth.

"What the h--- are you doing here?" he demanded.

"I-I-I-!" Beth babbled. Mick hurried to her side.

"Are you okay?" he demanded. She nodded.

"Thanks to Heather." She said. I wiped away the last of my tears and looked at Josef.

"Is it over?" I asked. He nodded. "Then if you will excuse me, I'm going home." I said, stepping towards the door. Five pairs of hands immediately moved to help me, but I waved them off. "Thanks, but I need some time alone." I answered before superspeeding away.

-------------------------------------------------------------

Two Weeks Later

I looked up as the door opened and Mick, Beth and Josef walked in.

"Well?" I asked. Josef nodded.

"The house was burned to the ground." He answered. "All but one body was burned to a crisp."

"Erik?" I guessed. He nodded and I smiled. We'd taken Erik's body and buried it on the hill overlooking his house. He would've liked that. I got up and went to look at the mail. As I was sifting through it, a letter fell out. Curious, I looked at it and opened it.

"That'd better not be addressed to me." Josef warned.

"It's to both of us." I retorted, unfolding it and reading it aloud.

"'Dear Konstantine Family,

Your presence is required in London on May the 22nd for an evaluation of the current dealings of the vampirical species. Please be on time.

Sincerely,

Lord Ferdinand William Gavinsham.'"

"Who's he?" Beth asked.

"The leader." I answered in a stunned voice.

"Of what?"

"Vampires." Josef answered for me. "All of them."

"May 22nd is in three weeks." Mick said.

"I'd better go pack." I said dazedly, walking out.

**Hah! I'll bet you all thought it was over, right? Wrong! I couldn't get rid of Heather after one adventure. Please R &R!**


	11. Chapter 11

Disclaimer: I don't own Moonlight, in any way shape or form

**Disclaimer: I don't own Moonlight, in any way shape or form.**

**A/N: Thanks to all who reviewed and who have stuck with me and Heather through the last ten chapters! **

"You have your own jet?" Beth asked as we all walked towards it. Josef had invited Mick, who'd invited Beth, to come along. I'd brought along David, declaring him necessary to keep me sane while we were in London.

"Yeah." Josef answered, boarding the jet. I winced. Josef hadn't been exactly pleased about the whole Beth thing. David joining us had been fine, but Josef was still mad at Beth for entering the mansion without permission. Can you believe that? Five weeks, and he was still mad at her! Weirdly enough, she seemed oblivious to it. If Josef was mad at me for five weeks, I'd have cried myself an ocean. It's hard to be shunned by someone you've stuck with for two hundred and eighty plus years.

I sighed as the plane took off. I wasn't that happy to be on the flight either, to be honest. I hated London, and had loudly declared this when Josef had reminded me where we were going. London was bad. It reminded me too much of my past. Mick nudged me.

"How long do you think Josef will stay mad at me?" he asked. I shrugged.

"Probably not much longer."

"You nervous about all this?"

"Not really." I answered. "I haven't really thought about it much. Josef's done an excellent job keeping us under wraps in LA." He nodded and then grimaced as the plane began its descent. I smiled. I kind of liked the feeling of my stomach rising. I was weird that way. When we'd landed, a limo drove up to take us to meet Lord Ferdinand William Gavinsham at his manor.

"I'm confused; I thought Dracula was the head of all vampires." Beth whispered to me.

"You really think he's gone by the same name all these years?" I replied. She got a look that was something in between horror and fascination. Josef gave me a look that said _Nice._ I smirked back. Maybe this trip would help me get over the whole "Erik" thing. I still had nightmares about our fight in the basement.

We stopped at a motel to let Beth check in. If she tried to stay with us, it'd be like tossing a sheep into a wolf pen: Bad. After dropping her off, we rode to the manor and went inside. A huge crowd of people were already in there, and I felt my jaw dropping. I'd _never_ seen so many of our kind before! One of them stepped forward, and Josef elbowed me in the ribs. I sucked in my breath. That was Gavinsham. The three of us bowed and Gavinsham nodded absently, as if he was tired of all the bowing. Then he stepped up on this podium thing and everyone got quiet.

"Now that we are all assembled," he began; looking pointedly at us so that I got the feeling that he was ticked at us for being the last ones to arrive. "Let us begin. All of you have ruled your dominions for several years, and it is now time to assess how well you have done. We will go in alphabetical order, starting with you, Lord Archibald Annas." A man stepped forward and he and Gavinsham went into another room. I looked at my watch and then around at all these people. This would take a while.

"Why don't you like London?" David persisted.

"I told you, I don't want to talk about it." I answered.

"Aw come on!" he protested. **After finding out that there were 21 vampires with last names that began with "A", Josef had sent David and me to go have fun. Those were his exact words: "Go have fun." I know. Something was wrong.**

"It doesn't matter why I don't like it, David. I just don't like London."

"I thought we promised not to have secrets from each other."

"So?"

"Are you saying that we should go back on that promise?" he challenged. I sighed and turned to face him.

"OK. Come with me. I'll show you why I don't like London." I told him. We went to a huge cemetery, and I glanced up at the sign: Since 1605. Great, just peachy. I led David to two small, old looking gravestones. Written on one: Josef Konstantine 1593 – 1623. On the other: Heather Konstantine 1607 – 1623. I ran my fingers over the faded words.

"This is why I hate London." I said quietly.

"Oh Heather, I'm so sorry." David said sympathetically. I brushed my hands off and looked at him.

"Now that that's cleared up, can we go have some fun?" I pleaded.

"Only if you're not mad at me." He asked. I kissed him.

"Does that answer your question?" I asked teasingly.

"I don't know, I might need some more convincing." He asked, leaning down to kiss me. I absently imagined all passersby thinking that there were two weird American teenagers making out in a graveyard. Yep, that's us.

After David accepted my "apology", we walked around the town, seeing the sights and tasting the food. David promised to take me to see both "Les Miserables" and "The Phantom of the Opera" before we left. We were heading for the woods so that we could superspeed back to Gavinsham's, when we heard a scream. I looked up just in time to see several men charging towards us, guns and moneybags in hand. Was it me? Did trouble just _look_ for Heather Konstantine? I tensed, listening for any telltale sign that might help me in my fight plan? Get it? _Fight_ plan? As opposed to _flight_ pla-Oh never mind.

Anyway, the men basically ignored me. Until I grabbed one and slammed him into a lightpole. _That_ got their attention. The other three began to circle me. Then they remembered the guns and decided to try shooting me. I ducked and they shot themselves. Humans + Robbers Quite Stupid. Several policemen ran up and hauled the miscreants away. I started to slip away quietly, but someone grabbed my arm. I yanked free and turned, half expecting to see a policeman waiting to take my statement. To my surprise, it was a guy in a Hawaiian shirt. _That_ was unexpected.

"What a rot!" he babbled. "What a show! What a show! Excuse me. Sorry to interrupt, but I say, do you work out?"

"Uh, yes?" I offered.

"Fantastic! Would you be interested in being on a hit new reality TV show?" he asked.

"Say what?"

"A new TV show! You know the tube! Television! Allow me to introduce myself. Roger Ronaldson's the name, finding the World's Toughest Teen is the game. Would you be interested in participating?" he asked. I gaped at him.

"You agreed to do _what_?" Josef roared. **Salesmen like Roger Ronaldson are hired for one reason only: They're very good at what they do. One minute, I'm listening to this guy pitch a story about a TV show, and the next thing you know, I'm signing a contract to compete to become one of the World's Toughest Teens.**

"To be on TV?" I said weakly.

"What were you _thinking_?" he ranted. "That's breaking one of the biggest rules of vampirism: Don't take risks!"

"I know. What was I supposed to do? He was too charming!" I protested.

"Cancel it."

"I signed a contract." I said glumly. Josef made a growling noise and stormed out. I sighed. What had I gotten myself into this time?

**Well, that's the chapter! Enjoy and please R&R!**


	12. Chapter 12

**Disclaimer: I don't own Moonlight, just Heather.**

**A/N: Thanks to all of you for your incredible reviews!**

I stared up at the studio. Holy crap, that thing was big. David got out of the car beside me and we started inside. **Well, it's time to find out if I was ready for show business. The good news was that Josef was on speaking terms with me. He said that there wasn't any way it could've been helped without revealing our existence, and that it was something to do while we were in London. Yeah, they were on the B's at Gavinsham's. **

"You remember the rules?" Josef asked, hurrying beside me.

"Yes." I said, trying not to sound impatient.

"And the rules are…?"

"No using any superstrength or speed to my advantage, no biting or asking people their blood types, and if asked, I say that I'm on the Slim Fast diet." I recited.

"Very good," Josef said.

"That seems a bit extreme." Beth commented.

"You've never seen a reality show, have you?" Josef sneered. OK, so while he'd forgiven Mick for bringing Beth, Josef was still a bit irked at Beth for coming to the Occisor incident. We walked into a huge room, where people were running around like mice, yelling orders, tripping over cables, and, in one case, standing in the middle of the room screaming for a Starbucks. I eyed the person and shuddered. One good thing about being a vampire is that you can't get any kind of caffeine addiction. Unless you're feeding on someone whose diet consisted of chocolate and cotton candy.

"Heather! I say, Heather Konstantine!" called a familiarly annoying tone. I bit back a groan and waved at Roger.

"See ya." I told my friends before heading off to my doom—I mean, manager.

"Heather, go on over there and get into makeup!" Roger instructed. I gave a halfhearted nod and headed in that direction. Halfway there, someone tried the old "bull past the competition to show 'em whose boss" routine with me. It was like being hit with a piece of paper: almost impossible to notice. At least for me. I heard a yelp of pain and felt someone staring at me. Ignoring them, I headed for the nearest makeup table.

"Excuse me," I said. "Roger Ronaldson's my manager, he told me to get into makeup?" The woman looked me up and down and then started snickering. A human would be offended. A human would be embarrassed. A human would say some mean comment. A vampire just stands there, waiting for the pathetic woman to regain control of herself.

"Oh, I'm sorry, love!" she finally said. "It's just, usually our competitors aren't so…..so…." **Pale? Undead? Longing to suck everyone's blood? **

"Skinny." She finished. **Oh. My bad.** I ignored this and just looked at her. Her grin faded and she realized that I was serious. "Er, right this way," she said, leading me to a nearby table. I sat down and she began to paint my face with foundation, blush, lipstick, eyeshadow, mascara, and the works. I sat still, patient. That's one good thing about vampires, they're extremely patient. Well, when Josef isn't around. While she made me over, the woman asked me endless questions about my family, friends, pets (I wish!), boyfriends, etc. I stayed mostly quiet and she finally released me after I refused to let her do anything to my hair. I wandered around until someone grabbed me by the arm. I turned, expecting to see Roger, but instead, I saw a girl standing there. She glared at me.

"You think you're so great, don't you?" she snapped. "Americans! You think you can win over everyone with your perfect little accent and your charm! Bloody-!" I easily pulled free of her arm.

"I think you should watch what you say," I warned. "It'd be a shame if you lost before they even started rolling." Her eyes widened and she shoved me. Or rather, she tried to shove me. It didn't work out so well. I smiled at her with my best evil look. "Having problems?" I asked coldly. She snarled and lunged at me again but a hand grabbed her collar.

"Not yet, Sophie!" her manager barked, glaring down at us. "Not yet!"

"Funny," I said to the manager. "I didn't know 'anger management issues' were a requirement." The girl shrieked and lunged again, but her managers wisely pulled her away, shouting that "She'll show you when it begins!" I grinned.

"I look forward to it."

"Do you get a kick out of raising the blood pressure of humans?" asked a voice by my ear. I yelped and turned.

"David!" I cried, hugging him. "Thank God, someone who knows me!"

"Thank your brother. He thought it'd be better if you had someone to keep an eye on you." David answered.

"Jerk." I mumbled into his jacket. _Thank you, Josef._ David chuckled and looked at me.

"So," he asked. "Are you ready to do this?"

"Not really." I said cheerfully. "Let's go." Arm in arm, we walked towards where Roger was.

"Oh, there you are!" he said, looking at me. "In makeup already? Fantastic!" He saw David and looked confused. "What….? Is he your bodyguard or something?"

"Yes." I said, simply because it was easier and less painful than admitting that my big brother wanted someone to baby-sit me.

"Oh…..all right then. Attention, everyone. I'm ready!" he called. Everyone in the room was silenced and then Roger stepped forward. "Good day, everyone. Thanks for being here – you girls all look lovely – and thanks for dealing with all the chaos. Anyway, our camera crew is running a bit late, so why don't we get to know each other?"

I began to silently panic. What do I say? "Hi, my name is Heather Konstantine, and I'm here because Dracula wants to make sure that none of the major vampire leaders need to be replaced"? Sophie, the girl who had hassled me earlier, stepped forward.

"I'm Sophie Brown, and I'm the ten time winner of the Women's Weight Lifting Championship in London." She said, glaring at me with a look that said _Top that!_ We went around the circle until it was my turn. There was Dirk, the Russian kick boxer who claimed that his parents were forcing him to do this and he was sorry in advance if he hurt any of us. There was Hank, the German strongman of a circus, who said that he would crush us all. There was Jackie, the Scot who said that she needed the money to pay for her younger brother to enter his sheep in the fair. Then it was my turn. I took a step forward and smiled, laying on the Charm.

"Hi. I'm Heather Konstantine, and I'm from America, here on vacation with my family. Um, I can't really think of any outstanding thing I've don't that you could look up on the internet, but I'm strong, fast, and smart, and I look forward to facing you all." I said cheerfully. All the guys were practically drooling. I could tell them to jump off a cliff and they'd fight to be first. The guy next to me stepped forward.

"Hi," he said merrily. "I'm Thomas Davidson, also from the good old U.S. of A., and……" All his words faded away as I felt a sudden sharp pain in my stomach. I let out something that was a mix between a scream and a grunt, cutting off Thomas' speech. Everyone looked at me, slightly annoyed. The pain came again and I doubled over in pain, moaning. David's hand was instantly on my shoulder and I felt tears swimming in my eyes.

"Heather?" David asked.

"Get me out of here!" I managed. David nodded and the next thing I knew, I was in his arms and being carried out as fast as David could walk. I managed to glimpse at everyone behind us. Sophie looked somewhere between triumph and worried. Roger was on his cellphone and I heard him talking about "postponing the premiere" due to "illness" and "video crew being late". The only person who didn't look worried was Thomas. He was watching me with a grin on his face, like seeing me hurt was a dream come true. I moaned and slipped into darkness.

--

I stirred. I was laying in someone's lap and whoever it was, they were stroking my hair. I heard humming and recognized my favorite lullaby. I groaned.

"Heather?" asked a voice. I opened my eyes.

"Josef," I croaked. He pulled me into a hug and I saw Mick, David and Beth standing there, watching me. I looked at Mick. "'S there a drink?" I asked. He nodded and almost instantly, there was a glass in my hand. I chugged it and then sighed. Mick refilled it, but I was better now.

"What happened?" Josef demanded with one arm still protectively around me.

"I hurt." I said simply, patting my stomach. **Great vocabulary after four hundred years, huh? **"The guy……Thomas……he made me hurt."

"Does he need to be taken care of?" Josef asked, a hint of steel behind his gentle tone.

"He's not human." I said. "He doesn't smell like one."

"What does he smell like?" Beth asked.

"He smelled like an old dog to me." David said.

"Yeah," I said hoarsely before deciding that maybe I did need more to drink and downing the second glass. Josef looked at me.

"Are you saying what I think you're saying?" he asked. I slid off his lap and onto the couch, drinking a third glass that Mick had given me.

"Yeah." I said, looking at him. "I'm competing against a bunch of humans and a werewolf."

**Dun dun dun! Sorry for the delay in updates, my Moonlight muse just got back from vacation! Enjoy this chapter, and don't forget to R&R!**


	13. Chapter 13

Disclaimer: I do not own Moonlight

**Disclaimer: I do not own Moonlight. If I did, the people canceling it would be fired.**

**A/n: Thanks again for all of you amazing reviews!**

**Werewolves are an odd species. Like vampires, humans have a lot of myths about them, like "Vampires and werewolves are mortal enemies and fight to the death whenever they meet". That is _so_ not true! Most werewolves are nice people….unless they're drunk, newly turned, or have a death wish. Only then do werewolves actually attack vampires in public. On all other occasions, the vampire will receive a note from the werewolf saying, "Dear Sir/Madam, for the past several decades, you have been intervening in my affairs. This has become more than an annoyance and is now considered a menace. Kindly either stop these actions immediately or meet me at insert battle place here so that we may determine our differences in mortal combat. Yours truly, insert werewolf name." That's generally how things go. But now it was getting strange. Thomas and I had no history together, therefore no bad blood between us, aside from the differences in species. So why go after me?**

I sighed as we walked into the studio. That's right, I said "we". David was at my side, and Josef and Mick were behind us. Talk about having a "guarded" personality. Everyone looked up as we walked in. I saw Thomas and shot him The Look. Surprisingly, he didn't drop dead, considering the fact that he was getting four different versions of "The Look". Roger spotted me and rushed over.

"Heather, oh thank god you're back!" he gushed. "Everyone, Heather's back!" Everyone sort of blinked at him like he was insane, shot me looks of pity, and then went back to what they were doing. Thomas wandered over.

"I'm glad you're back," he said, smiling at me. I thought I heard Josef's blood starting to boil.

"Yeah, it was just a stomach thing." I said with a tight smile. "Where in the U.S. are you from?" He laughed.

"Now now, Heather, do you really think I'd be so stupid? As if you won't send them a little present after our little incident yesterday," he chided. My smile instantly vanished and I glared at him.

"I'm not so low," I growled. "Unlike you!"

"You think I'd be stupid enough to mess with the great Heather Konstantine?" he asked, the merriment of our conversation evident in his eyes. He laughed again and reached out to pat my shoulder. Wrong move. Instantly, there were three very strong, very fast, very, very angry male vampires in between us.

"You might," I said, answering his question. "Though I doubt you'd survive it." Thomas stared at Mick, Josef and David before looking at Josef.

"My apologies, Mr. Konstantine," he said with a low, almost mocking bow, before walking off. I curled my lip scornfully.

"Jerk," I muttered. Josef looked at me.

"He goes near you again, he's mine!" he snarled. I nodded.

"Deal." I agreed. Josef pulled out his cellphone and walked out, probably calling someone to get the whereabouts of Thomas' family. Mick laid a hand on my arm.

"You OK?" he asked. I nodded.

"This time, I think I know what the enemy wants." I answered.

"What?" David asked.

"To toy with me." I answered, staring after the blond werewolf. Why did everyone who was blond want to kill me?

--

We started shooting about an hour later. Josef saw me wearing all my stage makeup and looked somewhere between laughing and screaming. He told me that I looked like a drop dead gorgeous clown. I "thanked" him by slugging his shoulder. He hugged me and then went off to answer his cellphone.

The first part of the show was a race. True to my word, I reminded myself not to use any kind of superspeed in my favor. _The question is,_ I thought to myself, looking at Thomas. _Will he?_ We went to the starting line and waited for them to start the race. All around us, everyone else was stretching. Jackie looked at me.

"Don't you have t'stretch?" she asked in her thick Scottish brogue.

"I did it earlier," I lied with a smile. She nodded, smiling back, and I saw that she had braces. Poor kid. We all took our starting positions, the gun was sounded, and the race started. I ran easily, barely breathing. This was weird. I was the only person not trying. Thomas suddenly gained on me, grinning – there's no other word – _wolfishly. _We were neck and neck and he looked at me.

"You ever get tired of trespassing on others' territories, bloodsucker?" he asked.

"You ever get tired of fleas?" I shot back. His face twisted, and for the first time, I saw rage on his face.

"Occisor was mine!" he snapped before shooting forward, ahead of me. I stared after him, almost stopping in shock. Then I remembered Erik's face, how scared he'd been. I could just picture Thomas mercilessly killing him in the most painful way. My blood began to boil, and with a defiant growl, I shot after my nemesis. We were neck and neck again, almost to the finish line.

"Erik was just a kid, Thomas! Thank God I got to him before you did!" I spat. He snarled and one arm shot out to push me.

"Foul!" Almost instantly, the referees were on the track, pulling him away. I turned my head to watch and felt something brush my waist. What the…..?

"Winner!" A man bawled, running towards me. I looked down at my waist. The white ribbon of the finish line was tangled around my jeans. Oh. Everyone reached it too, and I noticed that everyone else was wearing sweatpants and were, well, sweating. I briefly touched my forehead. Not even the hint of sweat. Roger was beside me, one arm around me as he beamed at the cameras.

"There you have it, ladies and gentlemen! Our friend from America, Heather Konstantine, is the fastest runner! Next on the show: Who's the strongest?" he said to the cameras. I looked at his arm around me and resisted the urge to bite it. They cut, and my friends walked up.

"Have fun?" Josef asked with a smile. I stuck my tongue out at him. Thomas hurried by, purposefully bumping into me. David grabbed his arm and turned him around. The two exchanged a long looked and then Thomas pulled his arm free and walked off.

"Great," I muttered. "You two planning a battle to the death anytime soon?"

"Look who's talking," Mick said. "You two looked pretty heated during the race. What happened?" he asked.

"Their next assignment was the Occisors'." I explained.

"Then they should be _thanking _us!" Josef spat.

"Thomas was supposed to go after Erik," I said quietly.

"So _that's_ what this is about?" David exclaimed. "He's mad because you stole his target?"

"He wanted to kill Erik." I said, remembering the look in Thomas' eyes. "He didn't care that it was a kid."

"So?" Mick asked. "That shouldn't mean anything."

"Yes, it does." I replied. "That makes this whole thing personal."

--

Josef's POV

It was around 2:30 in the morning when I received the news that Lord Gavinsham wanted to see me. I was confused with this – we weren't even on the C's yet – but I went as I'd been ordered, leaving Heather in her freezer. The kid had been through a lot the past few months. First the Occisors, now this whole werewolf thing. She was too young to go through all that so fast. _Yeah, right! She's almost three hundred and eighty five, Josef!_ My brain told me. I shook my head. Had that much time really flown?

"Mr. Konstantine is here to see you, sir." The aide said, letting me in the huge study. Gavinsham barely glanced at me.

"Sit." He ordered. I did as I'd been told, patiently waiting until he was ready to speak to me. "I saw the show." He said bluntly, looking at me.

"There's no threat to the security of the race, sir." I said, trying to swallow the lump in my throat. Surely he didn't want…….?

"I know that, Konstantine." Gavinsham said, almost impatiently. "Are you aware of what almost won that race?"

"Yes sir." I said, trying not to let my hatred show through. Gavinsham looked at me, his eyes narrowing.

"They were supposed to do the job you completed shortly before coming here." He informed me. I decided to refrain from saying that Thomas had told Heather that earlier.

"The boy is reckless, wild. He wants revenge."

"What are you saying, sir?" I asked.

"I'm telling you that Thomas Davidson will stop at nothing to destroy your sister." Gavinsham said. I gripped the arms of the chair I was sitting in.

"With all due respect sir, that will never happen." I said, promising myself that it wouldn't.

"Make sure of it." Gavinsham commanded, and then waved his hand, dismissing me. I stood up and left his study, superspeeding to the room, just in case that _thing_ had visited Heather in my absence. She was still sleeping, the door of her freezer shut, her boom box blasting some play soundtrack. I stared at her. My sister. My little Heath Bear. My companion for almost 400 years. She looked so calm, so peaceful.

"Don't worry, Heather," I whispered. "I'll take care of this."

**There! Another chapter complete! This is my longest fanfic ever, so please R&R to keep it going!**


	14. Chapter 14

**Disclaimer: Do you own something if the people who originally owned it throw it out? Just curious. Anyways, I do not own Moonlight.**

**A/N: sorry for the delay in updates, but thanks for sticking with me!**

"This sucks!" I muttered for the thousandth time.

"Cool it!" Josef hissed. We were on our way to see Lord Gavinsham. He'd heard about the problem and wanted to talk to us about what we thought should be done. I personally thought that I should hightail it back to LA before I failed algebra, but since when does anything I say matter? Mick and Beth had gone sightseeing, and, despite David's protests, Josef insisted that this was a family matter. Like a guy isn't a member of your family when you're the same undead species. Brothers.

"Why do we have to go see him?" I whined. Josef sighed.

"Just when you think a girl's gotten over all of her immaturity issues, she throws a curveball at you," he commented.

"Oh shut up!" I snapped irritably. "This whole thing sucks _big_ time!"

"I'm not the one who got myself contracted into some stupid teen reality show!" Josef shot back. I stuck out my tongue at him and he rolled his eyes. The elevator we were in "dinged" annoyingly as we reached the appropriate floor. Sighing, I followed my brother into a large office. Lord Gavinsham was sitting at a large desk that was covered with papers.

"Sit," he said, not looking up at us. I rolled my eyes and Josef glared at me as we sat down. After a few moments, Gavinsham looked up. "Miss Konstantine," he said with a nod to me. I smiled and he nodded to my brother, who didn't smile, looking grim. "I've been reviewing your past actions in Los Angeles and I've made a decision." My fingers dug into my jeans like talons. Had he called us up here to tell us that we couldn't go home? That we'd be stuck in England for the rest of our unnatural lives? I could think of few things that were worse fates. I opened my mouth to say "And?" but Josef shot me a warning look and we both waited in annoying, dreadful, silence. Gavinsham looked up from his papers and looked both of us in the eyes before speaking. "I commend you." The _whoosh_ of my breath being released was so loud I think Beth heard it from her motel room. "You've done an amazing job of keeping things clean. Your establishment of the Cleaners was a brilliant move."

"Then why are we here?" I blurted out; too busy breathing to notice the glare Josef was sending me. Gavinsham smiled at me.

"Miss Konstantine, you are under house arrest for the day," he announced.

"WHAT?!" I shrieked, leaping from my chair. "But you just said--!"

"I know you've had successful accomplishments in dealing with…….._other_ species, but the threat of a werewolf is too great for someone who is such an advantage to have in LA!" Gavinsham said firmly. I opened my mouth to tell him exactly how far off his rocker he was, but then I remembered who I was talking to. So, instead of spending an hour in a screaming match with the leader of my kind, I satisfied myself with a typical teenage response: I clenched my teeth, breathed heavily, said "Fine," in that I'm-just-going-along-because-you-could-ground-me voice, turned on my heel and stomped out.

--

When Mick, Josef, Beth and David found me three hours later, I was in the kitchen, cooking up a storm. **Most vampires never cook once they get turned. Unless they want to please a human so that the human will later return the favor. But other than that, vampires **_**never**_** cook. Not unless they're weird. Or angry. Or have a taste for cooking. All three of those apply to me. I first found out that I had a talent for cooking in 1978, when our school was having a bake sale and we got extra credit for bringing in goodies. I'd whipped up a batch of cookies from some recipe that we'd found when we moved in and taken them in. The next thing I knew, the school was saying that my cookies had raised more money than the rest of the sale. I'd tried a cookie, hadn't tasted a thing, and then made more for the school. So yeah, I'm the vampire who could make a killing in the bakery business. **

"You cook?" Beth asked, startled. I nodded as I shoved my seventh cookie sheet into the oven. She picked up a fresh cookie and sampled it. "Wow. This tastes incredible. Try…" she began, turning to Mick, Josef and David, who stared at her blankly. "Oh. Sorry."

"I cook when I'm bored or mad." I explained, putting some brownies on a dish.

"Both apply at the moment," Josef commented.

"Not so much 'mad' as 'bored'," I replied, looking at him. "The madness wore off about three batches ago."

"Batches of what?" Beth asked with her mouth full of brownie. I scratched my head, looking at the overflowing island countertop.

"Either cupcakes or muffins," I answered. "I forget which."

"What do you usually do with all the baked goods?"

"Take them to orphanages, homeless shelters, soup kitchens, places like that. If the mayoral vote relied on poor people, I'd be elected mayor in no time! I thought we could send a batch down to the studio as an 'I'm sorry'," I said, picking up a plate and moving it to the other counter.

"If this is some trick to get back in the race, forget it," Josef warned. "If Gavinsham doesn't kill you, I will."

"I called Ronaldson to tell him that I wouldn't be there," I said, moving two more plates to the counter. "He said they're not shooting today anyways. Jackie's getting her braces off." The timer on the oven dinged and I went to get batch number nine of brownies out.

"For a movie studio, they sure do a lot of 'postponing'," Beth commented.

"That's not the half of it," David said, holding up some videotapes. "I did some checking into the company's background. They've done several other reality shows other than this one. All had low ratings, almost no viewers, and when they got taken to DVD, no one bought it."

"Drug ring, maybe?" Beth suggested. David shook his head.

"One thing that was consistent in all the shows is that the losers mysteriously disappeared after they were voted off. And there's one family who's starred in every show." He said, handing me the tapes. I flipped through them, scanning the names of the competitors. Then I looked up.

"Davidson. Thomas' family has been involved from the beginning."

"That's not all." David said, folding his arms. "Guess who was signed on to participate in this season?"

"Is it someone who recently lived in LA and is currently buried on the hillside near the big 'Hollywood' sign?" I asked. David nodded grimly and I groaned.

"Erik. That's what he meant when he said that Occisor was his!" I exclaimed. I pulled out the cookie sheet and began putting the cookies on a new plate.

"You're done after the next batch," Josef ordered, eyeing the flood of baked goods.

"Fine," I said. "I want to check something out."

True to my word, after the last timer had dinged, I'd shut down all the ovens and put up my apron. We still weren't sure what to do with all the baked food, but Gavinsham assured me that it wouldn't be wasted. I got out my laptop and did some research. It was about one am when I finished and called the others into my room. Beth looked like she wanted to collapse right then and there, whereas the others looked wide awake.

"What'd you find out?" Josef asked.

"I looked on the internet to see if there's an international slayers webpage," I said, looking at him. "And there are actually a lot of them."

"I blame Buffy," Beth said with a yawn. I laughed.

"Yeah, most of them are just fansites for Buffy and Angel. Knowing the Occisor family helped." I said, turning the screen to face them. "It's sort of like a Facebook for slayers. They can chat, post fight results, share info, that sort of thing. I compared all the competitors from previous seasons with the lists of 'deceased' slayers. They matched. Then, just to be safe, I looked up all the competitors from this season on the site."

"And…?" Josef asked, sensing where I was going.

"And it matched." I said, looking up at them. "It looks like the Davidsons found this webpage and then began suggesting slayers to Roger as competitors. Then, using their superspeed and superstrength, they'd win the competitions. Then they'd celebrate by getting rid of all the losers."

"So they're using a reality TV show to eliminate slayers!" Beth gasped.

"Yep," I said.

"This is bad," Josef said grimly.

"Why?" Beth asked.

"Slayers are one of the big reasons why werewolves don't attack vampires more often," Mick explained. "Without the slayers, the werewolves will turn on us."

"We've got to stop it." I said firmly, staring at the photos of my fellow competitors.

**Dun dun! What do you think? I hope you all like this chapter as much as you liked the last one! Cheers!**


	15. Chapter 15

**Disclaimer: I do not own Moonlight. I own Heather, David and all other OCs only.**

**A/N: You reviewers are amazing. That is all there is to say.**

"So did Josef say that you were allowed back here?" Mick asked me.

"For the last time, yes!" I replied. "For _once_, could you just _believe_ me? He said that we needed to check on the delays and see how soon it'll be until the next competition!" He held up both hands.

"Sorry," he muttered. We were currently sitting in the bushes outside the studio. "So how are you and David?"

"We're fine," I answered, pulling the leaves off of a stick.

"Fine," he repeated. "So, has he asked you out yet?"

"Does an offer to take me to see 'Phantom' count?" I asked.

"Depends. Front row seats?"

"Ask him. He refuses to tell me anything," I muttered, throwing the now-leafless stick away.

"When are you going?"

"Tonight," I answered, feeling a thrill of anticipation.

"Maybe Beth and I'll see you," Mick suggested. I froze and then looked at him.

"Maybe we'll see you?" I repeated cautiously. The very thought of going to a play with my boyfriend, only to see my _brother's best friend and his date_ there………help?

"Yeah. Beth and I are going to go see Les Miserables down the street from there," Mick explained, then leaned over and added, "I would never embarrass you by chaperoning you on your date."

"Thanks," I said, grinning at him. "How are you and Beth?"

"We're doing good I guess," he said with a shrug. "That's one reason why I'm not coming to 'Phantom'. It's kind of our first real date."

"Congratulations," said a voice behind me. "Now, do either of you have permission to be here?" Not as much startled as curious, Mick and I looked up. A tall, dark haired man stood there, frowning at us. I decided to use my two and a half centuries' worth of conversational training to approach this guy.

"Hi!" I said cheerfully. A dark eyebrow went up. Mick nudged me and we stood up. I faced the guy, smiling cheerfully. I could just see what he saw: a medium sized teenage girl, reddish brown hair, brown eyes, skinny, and a very captivating smile. He, however, didn't blink. "Um, it's OK, because I'm a competitor. I'm Heather," I said, sticking out a hand. "Do you work for Roger Ronaldson? I'm his………..um, he's my sponsor." The man's lip curled scornfully.

"I don't work for dog handlers," he said contemptuously. It was only then that Mick and I smelled it: vampire. I smiled.

"Good. Because I hate the mutt!" I said. His other eyebrow rose and he smirked.

"How old?" he asked.

"Three hundred and eighty six in two months," I said proudly.

"Wow. I'm only a hundred and three."

"I'm with the elders," Mick said jokingly. "Eighty five," he explained, pointing to himself. We all laughed.

"Heather Konstantine," I said.

"Mark Hawthorne," he replied, shaking my head.

"Mick St. John,"

"Nice to meet you." Mark said, nodding to him. "So, you're a competitor in _World's Toughest Teen_, huh?"

"Yeah. It kind of just sprang on me," I said before explaining about the robbery. "What're you doing here?" I asked him.

"Actually, I was sent to find you," Mark replied.

"I'm going to stake that brother of mine!" I growled.

"Not by him. By Gavinsham," Mark amended hastily. "He wanted me to make sure you were safe."

"Safe?" I repeated. "We've just found out that there's a werewolf out there killing innocent slayers and once they're gone, they'll turn on us. How can I possibly be 'safe' anymore?" Mark chuckled.

"OK, so it's not exactly and foolproof plan. But he doesn't want you to get hurt." He said. I rolled my eyes.

"So, are you my bodyguard now?" I asked.

"Just when you're near the studio. For everything else--!"

"Tell me that I have to take another bodyguard with me on my date tonight and I'll hurt you!" I growled.

"Josef has assured Lord Gavinsham that David Hatcher will do a sufficient job of protecting you." Mark finished.

"SCORE!!"

--

"Where _is_ he?" I muttered for the sixth time. Beth sat on my bed, watching me pace.

"I'm sure he'll be here soon," she said soothingly.

"Do I look OK?" I demanded. She studied me. I was wearing a white knee-length sleeveless dress and black sandals.

"Yeah, you look great." Beth said. "….As always." Just then, someone knocked on the door. I gasped and charged it, taking a deep breath before opening the door.

David stood there (what? You were expecting someone else?), looking as handsome as I'd ever seen, well, _anybody._ Beth walked up behind me.

"You're wearing _that_?" she asked incredulously. David wasn't wearing your typical date outfit. Instead, he was wearing black jeans and a black T-shirt. His auburn hair was messed up. He was adorable. **Ok, for those of you who are saying, "That's so lame, he's dressed like a bum!", after three hundred and eighty five years on this earth, let me assure you, there is nothing sexier than a guy who feels comfortable enough with you to wear regular clothes on a date. Besides, the black T-shirt enhanced his muscles. **_**Yow!**_

"You look amazing!" I blurted out. Beth stared at me. David glanced from me to her and then smiled. I felt my heart turn to slush. He held up something. It was a red rose with a black ribbon around it. I felt the rest of my internal organs melt. I took it and kissed his cheek. "Let's go." We walked out, and I think I heard Beth commenting on how weird we vampires were. I smiled. Who cared what she thought? After almost four hundred years, I was with the guy of my dreams.

--

"I'm glad you had fun," David said as we walked down the street, licking our ice cream cones. Trying to look normal, you know.

"Why wouldn't I have fun?" I asked, smiling at him. "I'm with you,"

"Ahhh, I detect a 'Twilight' moment coming on," he said, pretending to wince. I shoved him.

"Shut up," I said, laughing. We tossed our cones in the trash and then held hands instead. Several couples nearby nodded to us and smiled, as if to say, "We're the lucky ones, aren't we?" Yes. Yes, we are.

We ended up near the Peter Pan statue in the park.

"You know, I remember when they built this thing." I commented, running my hand over the statue. "People used to come here from miles around to propose and kiss, believing that the statue itself held the magic."

"Wonder if it still does," David wondered. I looked at him and he smiled, inching closer to me.

"Let's find out," I suggested. We kissed. I'll spare you the details. Let me just say that all that stuff you hear about kisses, like the lights exploding and feeling like the world's stopping? It's a lie. All that anyone really feels during their kiss is what I felt:

Perfection.

--

When we walked into the manor after leaving the park, I immediately sensed that something was wrong. I didn't even look at David to find out what he thought. I just screamed.

"JOSEF!!" I heard a cough and Josef staggered in. At the sight of him, I screamed again. He was pale, his hair was a mess, and his jacket was red with blood.

"What the…?" David exclaimed.

"Josef?" I asked in a trembling voice. He stared at me and then I was suddenly in his arms, my face buried in his bloodstained shirt.

"Thank God," he said over and over again. "Thank God you're safe,"

"What happened?" I whimpered. "What _happened_?"

"The Davidsons came over for a little...visit," Josef said between clenched teeth.

"Did they attack?" David asked. Josef shook his head.

"Then why did you attack them?" I asked.

"Because of you," said a familiar voice. We turned and saw Gavinsham standing there, looking as perfect as ever.

"What?"

"They brought us a challenge, Heather," Josef said shakily. "They said that if you don't face James in twenty four hours', they'll unleash a newborn."

"Where?" David asked. Gavinsham looked grim.

"The Bloody Tower," he said. For once, I understood why the tourist attraction was called that.

**Ah, an update! Enjoy!**


	16. Chapter 16

**Disclaimer: I do not own Moonlight. That **_**was**_** owned by CBS, who unwisely dumped the show after one season! So, there's no telling who owns it now, but I just know it's not me.**

**A/N: Thanks to all of you for your great reviews! I have over a hundred reviews!**

"I hate this," Josef muttered.

"You're not the one wearing leather," I growled. "Stop complaining!"

"Are we there yet?" Mick asked the driver, who shook his head.

"In a hurry to send me to my doom?" I asked.

"I just want to get this over with," he said with a tense smile. I nodded.

"The back of my neck's hot," I told Josef.

"So put it up," he snapped.

"And give him free access to my neck? No thanks!" I snapped.

"Fine." Josef said, taking a sip of blood. "Let him pull it." I glared at him and twisted my hair up off of my neck, into an impromptu hair twist.

"So, what happens after these things?" Beth asked. "I mean, for the loser….?" I glared at Josef, warning him to do anything to Beth.

"I wrote down my last will and testament," I said dryly. "Gavinsham said he'd pay for the funeral."

"This isn't fair," Josef muttered, folding his arms and frowning.

"And you say _I'm_ immature?" I snapped.

"Why didn't David come?" Beth asked.

"He's too busy going over his plan to kill Thomas if I lose," I answered sweetly. Beth nodded, looking slightly pale. "Relax, Beth," I said, trying to reassure her. "It's not like _Mick_'s putting his neck on the line!" I grinned at the two of them.

"Now who's being immature?" Josef grumbled as we pulled up outside the embassy. Since I'd agreed to the fight, Thomas had said we'd meet at the US embassy and then fight somewhere else. I got out, Josef and Mick at my side, like my bodyguards. Thomas was leaning against a pillar, a cigarette in his mouth.

"Ew," I muttered. Josef looked at me.

"Heath-!" he began.

"I know," I cut him off, laying a hand on his arm. "I love you, too." He let out a peculiar sort of choking noise and then pulled me into his Superstrong Vampire Big brother Hug. I then hugged Mick and Beth and then watched them drive away. **While vampire friendships lasted a lifetime, the goodbyes were always short and sweet.** I turned and slowly walked up to Thomas.

"You came," he said, blowing smoke in my face.

"You want that thing crammed down your throat before the fight, do that again!" I threatened. He grinned and smashed the cigarette beneath his heel.

"So," I said as he walked down the steps to where I was. "Where do you want to do this thing?" He looked around, calculating.

"Oh, I think here'll work," he said thoughtfully. I looked around, counting all the pedestrians and innocents.

"With all these people around here? Are you out of your mind?" I asked incredulously. He shook his head.

"Nope."

Then he grabbed me by the shirt and hurled me through the front window. Inside, people scattered as I slid across the floor, carrying bits and pieces of shattered glass with me. I scrambled to my feet, rubbing my now sore chest.

Thomas leapt into the broken window frame.

"Did that hurt?" he asked with a smirk. I shrugged, yanking off my jacket. Ahhh, a T-shirt and jeans. _Much better._

"Barely a hit," I said casually. He hopped down and entered the building.

"I guess I'll have to do one better," he said, raising a clenched fist. Men appeared out of the crowd. I tensed, silently cursing my all-too-trusting nature. But they didn't attack. Instead, they pulled out guns and barred the exits. No big…….oh. Everyone was still inside. I stared at Thomas.

"What are you doing?" I demanded.

"Proving a point," he answered casually. "Showing the world that the great Heather Konstantine isn't so high and mighty." Realization dawned on me and I paled.

"Let them go, Thomas. They have _nothing_ to do with us! This is between you and me, got that? _You and me_."

"Maybe, maybe not," he said with a shrug. Then his arm shot out and grabbed a kid. Her parents screamed as she was held aloft, frozen in terror. "Catch!" Then Thomas threw the girl at me. Child's play. I caught the kid, setting him down safely behind me before turning to face Thomas…. And the screaming woman who was flying through the air at me. Yelping, I caught her and set her with the kid and then turned and caught the_ next_ person Thomas threw at me. My hair began to fall out of its bun and I shook it loose as I grabbed the person and set them down. What was this? A twisted game of catch? "Don't you smell it, Heather?" Thomas called, tossing a wailing toddler at me. "Inhale! Smell their sweetness!" **Whoever says that when someone tells you to do something, it's instinct for you to do the opposite deserves a gold star. I inhaled.** The toddler stared at me, face streaked with tears, having no idea of how good he smelled. I stared at him, feeling my fangs extend. _One bite._ That was all it would take. The kid looked at me. I saw the question reflected in his eyes: _Why is he doing this_? My heart thumped painfully as my fangs retracted. After three hundred years' worth of training, my reflexes were finally set: _Don't kill it unless it's a threat._

"I don't know," I whispered. "I don't know!" Then I set the kid down. Thomas already had another guy ready to throw. He was just winding back his arm when I spoke:

"How typical." He froze, looking confused.

"What?"

"You, using them against me. Isn't that in your nature, Fido? To distract the enemy and come up on them from behind? How cowardly." The guy was on the floor now, Thomas charging me. I waited until he was almost on me and then I stepped to one side. He flew past me with a yelp. I grinned.

"Toro, Toro!" I called. "What I'd give for a tablecloth or something like that!" He stood up, brushing pieces of a table he'd just obliterated off his leather coat.

"You like games, Heather?" he asked, baring his canines at me. Several people screamed, but we both ignored them. I heard a British voice mutter,

"Bloody Americans!"

Ignorance is bliss. I considered Thomas' words.

"Yeah, I like games, I guess." I said, shrugging. "Why do you ask?" In reply, he leapt into the air, transforming into a full werewolf. I tensed, but he wasn't aiming at me. Instead, he grabbed a young man who'd been cowering with his pregnant young wife. The guy yelped and the woman screamed, one hand clutching her stomach. Thomas dragged the man into the center of the room to face me. Gripping the guy's jacket, he used his other paw to tilt the guy's head.

"What do you say, Heather?" he asked. "One human for one vampire." I blinked at him.

"I don't get it."

"Of course you don't," he said with a hollow laugh. "Here's the deal: I kill him and the rest – yourself included – go free." I stared at him some more, my head slowly tilting until the guy's eyes were about even with mine. I stared at the guy. His brown eyes were wide with horror and fear. He cast me a pleading glance. "Well, Heather?" Thomas asked. "What's your decision?" I held up one finger, closed my eyes, and inhaled.

"_Anywhere you want to go," the young man was saying. His young bride laughed at the grin on his face._

"_Alex," she said. "We can't afford this."_

"_I can't put a price on your happiness," Alex said. "C'mon, Tiff. I want to do things with the two best people in my life before I start my new job next week. Just the three of us, you, me, and the baby!" Tiffany looked at him._

"_England?" she suggested. "Can we go to England?" _

"_Your wish is my command," Alex replied with a bow. Laughing, she hugged him tightly and he picked her up and swung her around._

I opened my eyes again and looked at Alex. Then I looked at Tiffany. She looked young, and scared. If anything happened to Alex, she wouldn't be able to go on. I looked at her unborn baby. He or she needed a father. I looked at Thomas.

"You don't learn, do you?" I asked. He opened his mouth to speak, but I cut him off. "You're all just the same. So sure that you can't do anything wrong that you don't even take the time to think about the fact that all that blood you're spilling might not come with consequences. Well let me just tell you that killing him will bring a reap of vengeance the likes of which you've never seen! If you want to kill him go ahead, fine. But if you think I'd stoop low enough to condemn an innocent person just to save myself, you might as well go ahead and kill everyone in this room, Thomas, because I will _never_ be like _you_!"

There was a stunned silence after I'd finished. I held my breath as Thomas looked at Alex, his teeth hovering inches from the young man's neck. Then Alex was being shoved back over to his wife and Thomas was charging me. **Reflex: an automatic and often inborn response to a stimulus that involves a nerve impulse passing inward from a receptor to a nerve center and thence outward to an effector without reaching the level of consciousness. Failure: omission of occurrence or performance.**

Thomas slammed into me, sending me flying back into a large glass window. **You know the windows those bank tellers stay behind? Well, this particular one was bullet resistance. **It cracked slightly, but otherwise sent the shockwaves of pain back into my body. I cried out in pain before sliding down to the floor. Before I could recover enough to get up, Thomas was on me, one booted foot pressing onto my chest. I whimpered in pain. He leaned down, his hairy face inches from mine.

"Does it hurt now, Heather? Huh? Does it hurt _now_?" he snarled, slamming his other foot – and all of his weight – onto my chest. I screamed in pain. "ANSWER ME!!"

"Yes, it hurts, please!" I yelped. He grinned at me.

"Please _what_? Give you a break? What, you think the Princess of the Undead deserves a timeout? That's where you're _wrong_!" His hand/paw shot out, pulled my chin up and then slammed my head into the metal booth. I screamed and he did it again. This time I whimpered. Grinning wickedly, he reached out again. I tried to pull away, crying out softly. Then his claws began to stroke my face. "Shhhhh……" he said soothingly. I hiccupped and he kept stroking. I felt my body relax slightly. Then my head was slammed against the booth again. He climbed off my chest and then pulled over a long black bag. I stared at it dazedly. He pulled out a long sword. Realization hit me and I whimpered, trying to squirm away from him. He placed another paw on my chest, pinning me down. "Don't fight me, Heather. I'm going to make this quick, I promise," he said in that same soothing voice.

"Get away from me, you--!" His paw slapped across my mouth.

"Shhhhh!" he said again, removing it to reach for the sword. That's when the first handbag hit.

"Leave her alone!" yelled a voice.

"Rotten American! Let her go!"

"Coward! What's she done to you?"

"Get off of her!"

"Someone call the police!"

"Cart him off to jail!"

Accompanied by each of these shouts was about six or seven purses, handbags, etc. I even think I saw some guy hurl a bag of golf clubs. Thomas turned to them with a snarl. I realized what was happening: The people weren't seeing two immortals battle to the death. They were just seeing a horrible monster beating the crap out of an innocent girl. Hah!

"You forgot…..one very…..important thing, Thomas," I panted. His eyes blazing, he grabbed my chin.

"And what is that?" he demanded. My eyes turned silver and I bared my fangs, sinking them into his paw. **You know how it tastes when you get a hair in your mouth? Yeah, try getting hundreds of 'em at once!** He yowled in pain and yanked free to nurse his hurt paw. I pulled my knees in and then gave Thomas a very special, superstrong, angry vampire double kick to the chest. He flew back, hitting his own bulletproof-windowed-bank-teller-booth. I stood up and grabbed the sword.

"Kinda stings, doesn't it?" I asked. He struggled to his feet and charged me with a roar. I stopped him by holding up the sword.

"You are a murderer," he said with a pleased grin. I shook my head and indicated all the people who were standing around us. They were all scared and wanted to go home. If anything happened to me, only half of them would survive. If it was a good day.

"No, Thomas," I said quietly. "I'm their protector." Then I pulled back and swung once. That was all it took. Several people screamed or retched. I lowered the sword and then began to walk away from the body. Pain engulfed my legs and I stumbled, dropping the sword in the process.

"Easy!" said a sudden voice and someone grabbed my arm. Blinking, I looked up and saw Alex holding tightly to my arm. He looked at me. "C'mon, there's a seat over here. Easy now." I sat down in the chair he offered and just sat there, all my energy gone.

Then I heard it: Clapping. I looked up and saw all of them: guards, fathers, sons, daughters, mothers, everyone, cheering on _me_.

"You saved our lives," Alex told me.

"I put them in danger," I retorted.

"Willingly?" asked a guard. I shook my head, which felt like it weighed about twelve hundred pounds.

"You stayed." Tiffany said, walking over to her husband. "And you didn't let that thing kill my baby's dad."

"No one deserves anything but both parents," I said with a weak smile, not mentioning the fact that I'd spent three hundred years with just my brother.

"I called the police," said a man, holding up a cellphone like we couldn't figure out how he had accomplished such a task. Sure enough, we heard sirens.

"Where are the others? He had back up…" I asked, making a halfhearted attempt to rise. Alex pushed me back down gently.

"We took care of them when he had you over by the counter, miss." The guard explained, pointing to where there were several bound pairs of thugs. I nodded and watched as the police – or bobbies, whatever they're called – charged in, guns drawn. The guard squeezed my hand and then hurried over to them.

"We're clear," he announced before launching into a retelling of what I'd done. Alex and Tiffany stayed by my side as the police came in and took the prisoners away. I closed my eyes and listened to the guard explaining what a hero I was.

"Sir, you can't go in there--!"

"The h-- I can't! Where is she? Where's my sister??" roared a familiar voice.

"Josef," I called weakly. "Let 'm through! I want to see Josef!" Josef, Mick, Beth and David were instantly hovering over me. I smiled feebly at them. "H'llo." The next second, Josef was hugging me.

"Thank God you're safe," he said, sounding close to tears. "If anything had happened-!"

"Shut up," I told him, just because it would save him the embarrassment of having to be all emotional. He smiled.

"Sir," Tiffany said, almost shyly. "Your sister's a heroine. She saved us all." Josef smiled at her.

"Thank you," he said softly.

"Can we go home now?" I asked.

"We don't know for sure you're OK," Beth protested. I looked at her.

"Beth. I am: hungry, tired, in desperate need of a shower, _and_ if I see one more rain cloud, I will scream. I want to go home!"

"She's fine," Josef answered. He looked at David. "Do you want to?" David stepped back and Josef picked me up. As he carried me past the police, I could hear snatches of the conversation, all of which was about a "ceremony", "medal", and me.

--

We left two hours before I was supposed to receive my medal. Josef and Gavinsham had both been fine with my receiving it, but I'd just told Alex and Tiffany to send it to me. I would revel in my victories later. For now, I was in desperate need of my own freezer and my own house. I was going home.

**I think this is my longest chapter……who knows? This is my longest fanfiction, so that's something! And here's another chapter! Enjoy!**


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